Compensation Bill [Lords]

The hon. Gentleman should come with me to the annual awards for the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year. There he would see some very inspiring, passionate lawyers who have taken on cases, often for free, to help people. That is a fine thing. Insofar as the trade unions help people, that is an excellent thing and nobody would dispute it. Many people do excellent things, but they are still regulated. That is what is wrong with the Bill—the idea that the unions are being let off. The hon. Member for Hendon (Mr. Dismore) has suggested in new clause 10 that there should be a complete exemption for"““legal services offered or arranged by Trades Unions for the benefit of their members””." Perhaps he did not realise that the Bill already contains such an exemption. He has worked for claimants’ solicitors for many years and knows about the matter. I understand that he worked for many years for one of the firms that has been most heavily criticised. If one examines what has happened to those firms of solicitors, it is a sad story. A trade union solicitor in league with Durham NUM has argued in a briefing to Members of Parliament that such solicitors and trade unions should be exempt, but the hon. Member for North Durham, who knows the area and the circumstances, has explained that they are involved in worrying activities. Millions of pounds have been taken by unions and solicitors. In an example provided by the hon. Member for North Durham, solicitors offered people the opportunity to pay £20 to become associate members of a union, which does not provide any of the rights of union membership and simply allows people to be known as associate members. People then signed a form saying that 7.5 per cent. of their final settlement would go to the union; the money is not kept by the solicitors but is passed on to the union, which received £10 million in one case. The form stated that that was done to indemnify the individual against any costs, but the Government pay all the costs. The situation is extraordinary. Why would the Government do that? We know that they have close relationships with the trade unions and at least one of those firms of solicitors, because in recent years the Labour party has received £90,000 in funding from the NUM and £75,000 from a firm of solicitors, Thompsons. Against that background, it is worrying that such people are being exempted.