Legal Services Bill [Lords]

I declare an interest, which is different from most of the others that have been declared. I have initiated regulatory action against 45 firms of solicitors. To date, none of them has won. My constituents have won in every resolved case without exception. The numbers that the Law Society records are a tremendous underestimate because, being a moderate man, I have been prepared, when my constituents agreed, to conciliate. Many cases did not therefore go through the regulatory process for complaints. The 45 firms have been described as a small number of solicitors, but those against which I have taken action had approximately 80 per cent. of the business—the claims and the amount of money that they were paid for handling them—in relation to the coal miners’ compensation scheme. Some battles have been small, marginal and easily won and others have been long and hard. Some are ongoing. However, 80 per cent. of the total is not a small matter.