Legal Services Bill [Lords]

Before the hon. Gentleman is too persuaded by the argument of his colleague, the hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Mr. Field), I hope that he will continue to recognise that not only the conveyancing issue but a range of other matters—the centralisation of police court work means that duty solicitors are sought only from the main court centres, for example—are all working against small firms in rural communities who provide a range of legal services for constituents such as mine. We must make sure that it is still viable to run a solicitor's practice in a small town.