Legal Services Bill [HL]

We created alternative business structures under Section 66 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990. What prevents many of the manifestations of those structures coming into place is the lack of rules and regulators. Removing this entire part of the Bill does not remove alternative business structures, it simply removes an opportunity to create the structures in the way that we have designed them. I reiterate that it is important we do not set ourselves up in your Lordships’ House as being either the consumer or not the consumer. I do not believe that in any of our constructive discussions my noble friend Lord Whitty has been the only voice of the consumer. Indeed, many noble Lords have been at pains to point out that, although they may or may not come from the legal profession, they are here to represent their views in the context of either having been a consumer, that they are a consumer, or that they serve a consumer. I am a bit saddened that once again the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, refers to my noble friend as the ““lone voice of the consumer””, especially considering the party from which the noble Lord comes. I have huge respect for the Liberal Democrat party. I have worked closely with the party over the years and one of the things I believed it felt most passionately about until today, was that it represented the consumer interest, both in the context—