Restriction on increase in small claims limit for relevant personal injuries

Part of Civil Liability Bill [Lords] – in the House of Commons at 1:30 pm on 23 October 2018.

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Photo of Bob Neill Bob Neill Chair, Justice Committee, Chair, Justice Committee 1:30, 23 October 2018

I am afraid that my hon. Friend is not making the best case on the Government side that I have ever heard. Does he accept that lawyers act in the interests of their clients and that when they do, they are bound by professional obligations? Is not a better point that we should assist people through the system by working up a very good and accessible online portal, which the Minister has sought to do, so that we find the means of balancing cost with people’s ability to seek access to justice? I gently say to my hon. Friend Chris Philp that that is perhaps a stronger point that the Government have been able to advance. The Minister has taken care to delay the implementation of aspects of the Bill in order to get the online portal up and working, and I suggest that that might be a more fruitful area to consider.