Legal Aid

Baroness Stowell of Beeston Excerpts
Thursday 4th December 2014

(9 years, 11 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Baroness Stowell of Beeston Portrait The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Stowell of Beeston) (Con)
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My Lords, we still have time. Order—I am standing at the Dispatch Box. We have not heard from the Conservative Benches on this Question. My noble friend Lord Horam is due to speak next, and I know that the House is keen to hear also from the noble and learned Lord, Lord Scott.

Lord Horam Portrait Lord Horam
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My Lords, would it not be better if more lawyers in the legal aid field followed the example of Michael Mansfield QC, who closed his chambers but has reopened a new set of chambers on a lower cost base? Would the lawyers not be better advised to pursue that route, which many others in the public and private sectors have had to do at great cost over the last few years? We could then get a decent service at less cost to the taxpayers within the remit of what the public can afford.