Legal Services Bill [HL]

I had almost forgotten that I introduced this amendment, there having been so many eloquent speeches made on all sides in support of it. I am not going to attempt to sum them up; your Lordships have all spoken so perceptively about these issues that nothing further needs to be added. I will just draw out two matters which I think are particularly germane to the way the noble Baroness has responded on the issue of independence. First, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd of Berwick, rightly reminded us that the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 was driven wholly by perceptions. The Government were at pains to emphasise that there was absolutely no evidence whatever that any judge had ever been suborned; and the only reason why the Appellate Committee was being physically removed from your Lordships’ House and renamed was because there might be a perception that it was not independent. It is a mystery to me why that should have been the over-riding consideration for the 2005 Act yet not a consideration at all when it comes to this Bill. As all your Lordships have emphasised, the perception of independence is almost as important as the fact of independence. The second issue has already to some extent been rehearsed in the earlier amendments introduced by the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford—the link between the independence of the judiciary and that of the legal profession. For liberty to be entrenched in our society, it is vital that both are independent. You cannot have an independent judiciary if you do not have an independent profession. With great respect to the noble Baroness, this is the real flaw in her argument. In responding earlier to the noble Lord, Lord Maclennan of Rogart, when he advocated the Judicial Appointments Board as the appropriate model for selecting the Legal Services Board, she said, ““We do not see it like that at all. This is a regulatory authority like any other regulatory authority””. I suppose she means the authorities that regulate gas or telecommunication. Yet it is because of the link between the independence of the judiciary and that of the profession that this approach by the Government is deeply flawed. This is not a regulatory authority like any other. It goes to the heart of the liberties of this country and it cannot be treated like any other regulatory authority. The model of the Judicial Appointments Board, advocated by the noble Lord, Lord Maclennan of Rogart, is a much more appropriate model with which to approach appointments to the Legal Services Board than is, for example, the telecommunications regulator. That, in my respectful submission, is the crucial point that I hope the noble Baroness will take away and reflect on between now and Report. She must know that there are strong feelings in the House about this issue. She will know that unless the Government play a different tune when this comes back, this House will vote and we will defeat her. She can be in no doubt about the strength of feeling on this issue. There will have to be movement on the Government’s side if we are to find some solution other than one of direct confrontation. We all regard this issue as absolutely central to producing a good Bill. I can see her nodding, but characteristically smiling at the same time. I do not think she is in any doubt about the direction in which we are all heading. Meanwhile, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. [Amendments Nos. 6 and 7 not moved.]