Legal Services Bill [HL]

The proposal that the AA should be given an advantage—which is certainly how it would be perceived by other organisations, not least the RAC—creates enormous difficulties. It is right that they are enthusiastic; the Law Society equally so. I hope I am right in saying that; I think I am. The Government cannot pick individual organisations and give them what could and would be seen in the world of business as a competitive edge. That is a fundamental difficulty with the noble Lord’s suggestion. Again, I return to the approach that I have tried to propose: to make sure that we have got this right, we must be absolutely clear. Could the licensing authorities look at, and perhaps model, what could potentially happen? That modelling process might mean that one is able to reconcile. I understand the noble Lord’s desire for piloting, to make sure that we know what the consequences might be. Again, that is something we can think about. This is not going to come in tomorrow. It is an important and potentially exciting business opportunity for the legal professions, with great consumer benefits. We have to make sure that the potential for any detriment is negated by the way in which it is set up. The noble Lord knows that I am open to, and willing to talk about, all sorts of proposals. Nobody has yet found a proposal that I think is better than the one I have put forward. Simply, it would be wholly inappropriate and wrong to pick a few companies and give them, and nobody else, the chance to do this. We would be unable to do it. We would find ourselves in grave difficulties.