The Bar Council, the representative body for UK barristers, has called on MPs to prioritise consumers in any changes to the British legal system ahead of today’s second reading of the wide-ranging Legal Services Bill in the House of Commons .

In particular, the Bar Council is urging MPs to accept a House of Lords’ amendment that it believes will safeguard regulation of the legal profession from Government interference.

The Lords’ amendment, passed by a majority of 50, requires that the new Legal Services Board, which will become the profession’s chief regulator, would be appointed by the Lord Chancellor in conjunction with the Lord Chief Justice.

The original Legal Services Bill, which will enact the biggest shake-up of UK legal services in a generation, proposed that the Lord Chancellor, who is appointed by the Government and holds political office, would have sole responsibility for the Board.

Geoffrey Vos, QC, Bar Council chairman, said: “The Legal Services Bill is an important milestone in the future of the legal profession but it is crucial that the profession retains its reputation for independence here and abroad.

“It will only do so if the Legal Services Board is seen to be appointed independently from Government. The UK’s exports of legal services are too important to risk by blurring the clear mark of independence provided by the involvement of the Lord Chief Justice in the appointment of the Board.”

Mr Vos insists that consumers and the wider public will benefit from the Lord’ amendment because it will help to safeguard the quality of legal services in the UK.

In a letter to Ed Balls, Economics Secretary to the Treasury, Mr Vos and the managing partners of London’s five largest law firms warned that ignoring calls for an independently appointed regulator would put the UK's reputation as a global legal centre at risk.

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