Legal Services Bill [Lords]

May I just finish this point, as it gets more interesting? That means that a regulator such as the Law Society could determine, if the public interest requires it, that a trade union should be subject to the ABS licensing regime in certain circumstances. The exceptionally wide-ranging nature of the trade unions' exemption is highlighted by the fact that the Minister went on to say:"““I must clarify that this does not necessarily mean that rules could force any particular trade union to opt in to the ABS framework or to create a subsidiary that operates under the ABS framework. Under Part 5 a body is licensed to carry on reserved legal activities. But an independent trade union that carries out services as described in the new clause 15 provision would be considered not to be carrying out a reserved legal activity. Similarly, a subsidiary body of the union may find that it falls under clause 15(4), which would mean that it would not be carrying out reserved legal activities either. In those circumstances there would be neither an obligation to be licensed nor a possibility of a licence, because there is no reserved legal activity for which to provide a licence."