'Restriction on preparation of papers for probate etc. (Hansard, 17 July 1985)

§ The Attorney-General
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.
I am grateful for the high quality of our debates tonight, and, in particular, in Committee. As so often happens, the criticisms made of the Bill relate generally not to what is in the Bill, but to what people think should have been it it.
As is so often the case when the Government introduce change, far from satisfying the reforming element in us, it serves only to increase the appetite for more. We have been asked to move immediately towards the establishment of an independent body to deal with complaints against solicitors, and we have spent a good deal of time discussing whether banks and building societies should be permitted to offer services. The House will have the opportunity to return to both those issues in due course. The Coopers and Lybrand review of the Law Society is still in its early stages. We await with interest the developments in that area as the exercise progresses. Legislation to enable the Lord Chancellor to exempt bodies corporate from the restrictions on conveyancing will be introduced next Session. I am sure that many hon. Members present tonight will reappear then to air their views on how those powers should be exercised.
The provisions of the Bill are familiar to hon. Members. The speeches from hon. Members on both sides of the House have been largely constructive and helpful, and the Bill has undoubtedly been greatly improved by all 409 our efforts. My hon. and learned Friend the Solicitor-General and I are grateful to the right hon. and learned Member for Aberavon (Mr. Morris), to the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, East (Mr. Brown), and to all those who have played a part in tonight's debate for their assistance, and for the good will which has coloured our proceedings. I commend the Bill to the House.

§ Mr. Nicholas Brown
In concluding my speech on Second Reading, I said that the Bill was more to be commended for effort than for achievement. The Bill is an under-achiever, and many hon. Members may eventually feel that it was not worth the effort. I have no doubt that part I will not stand the test of time. Part II timidly and cautiously introduces the new profession of the licensed conveyancer. We wish the new profession well, and believe that it will benefit the consumer. However, the question of in-house work by building societies remains unresolved.
I noticed, as did many hon. Members, that the long title of the Bill is drawn wide. At one stage I considered introducing an amendment to set a statutory retiring age for Lord Chancellors. However, I must not refer to what is not in the Bill, which is frustrating, as most matters which should be in the Bill are not.
Despite the issues that divide us, and the occasional charges of vested interest and counter-charges of ignorance, the Report stage, like the Committee stage, was reasonably good natured. In that spirit I shall draw my remarks to a close by putting in a kind word for the Attorney-General. He has had his problems in recent legal affairs debates, and the Opposition have always sought to help him constructively. Recently he had to respond to the loss of the disreputable original clause 22 from the Prosecution of Offences Bill and the equally disreputable original clause 43 from this Bill when both clauses were defeated in the other place. He had to explain why the Government retreated from their original promise to my hon. Friend the Member for Great Grimsby (Mr. Mitchell) on banks and building societies, and he had to defend part I of the Bill, which has been superseded by events. In Committee, he could advance only the worst of arguments to defend the present state of our defamation laws—that he could not afford to change them because of the cost. He was clearly embarrassed by the lack of coherence in the present state of law centres.
I shall now come to the good word. To all those points the Attorney-General's ultimate response was, as it had to be, "I am only the agent of the Lord Chancellor." To be fair to the Attorney-General, that is the only respectable excuse available to him.

§ Mr. Cash
I am glad to have taken part in the proceedings, and I thank my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney-General for the courtesy that he has shown throughout. I wish the Bill well.