Clause 28 - Legal assistance
Equality Bill [Lords]
1:15 pm
Eleanor Laing (Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, Scotland; Epping Forest, Conservative)
My hon. Friend is absolutely right and puts the matter succinctly. I thank him for assisting me in my vocabulary. That is precisely the point. The situation as it currently stands is unfair, because someone can have a case brought against them, succeed in defending it, and then find that they cannot recover the costs, particularly if the person who brought the case has no money, which is often the case if it is an individual rather than a corporate body. It is therefore necessary that the words that we suggest in the amendment be added to the clause.