Ministers lose lawyer plans vote

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The government has lost a Lords vote over appointments to the new regulatory body for lawyers, with peers agreeing to give the Lord Chief Justice a say.

Peers voted by 175 to 134, a majority of 41, against the plans for the Legal Services Board.

The government had proposed that the lord chancellor - a minister - should appoint its seven to 10 members.

But peers voted for an amendment by Lord Neill to the Legal Services Bill, giving the head of the judiciary a say.

The former Bar Council chairman - a crossbencher - said appointments would have to be made "with the concurrence of" the lord chief justice.

His successful amendment, at the bill's report stage, was backed by Tory and Liberal Democrat peers.

Lord Neill, a former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, argued this would help ensure the independence of the board and of the legal profession from ministerial influence.

But Labour ex-minister Lord Whitty, who chairs the National Consumer Council, provocatively compared it to giving media tycoon Rupert Murdoch a veto on members of media regulator Ofcom or Tesco a say on members of the Competition Commission.