Legal Services Bill [HL]

I support the amendment. I agree with what the noble Lord, Lord Neill of Bladen, has just said, in particular, his reasons for preferring, "““concurrence of the Lord Chief Justice””" to ““consultation””. I shall say no more on the importance of the independence of the legal profession, because it was so well covered by the noble Lord, Lord Thomas. The analogy of other regulatory bodies seems to be far removed from the importance of ensuring the independence of the legal profession. I shall say a brief word in support of what the noble Lord said about perception. As many of your Lordships will remember, perception was a key feature in the argument which the Government used during the passing of the Constitutional Reform Act. It was said over and again that the Law Lords, for example, must be removed from this building to the Middlesex Guildhall because they were not perceived to be independent so long as they were sitting here. If perception is important from that point of view, surely it is equally, perhaps even more, important from the point of view of the establishment of this body. If the chairman of the Legal Services Board is appointed by a Minister, it will be perceived by people—perhaps not by people with as much knowledge of these things as we have, but by ordinary people—as making the profession less independent of the Government than it should be. If that is true of the appointment of the chairman and members of the LSB, it is surely even more true of their removal from office, which, again, can be done by the Secretary of State. That point was not greatly emphasised by the noble Lord, but it does arise under Amendment No. 24. The provision to which it relates must be amended for the very same reasons. The dismissal of the chairman and members of the LSB seems to be absolutely contrary to any idea that the body is independent of the Government. I hope that the amendment will be approved in due course, as well as Amendment No. 24.