Of course the noble and learned Lord is right. I should simply have referred the Islington matter to him as a substantive one. As I said, that is unlikely to be replicated in that particular borough in any event, but that is by the way.
The Minister has signally failed to answer other questions, particularly what is meant by availability and the likelihood of availability. That question has been left in the air, which is not at all satisfactory. We have debated legal aid in this House before, as we have the problems that applicants and their legal advisers will face in dealing with matters up to the stage when permission is granted. There is a real risk that costs up to that point will not be covered by legal aid. There are other areas that will potentially be governed by other proposals, for example concerning a residence test, which currently is under appeal. We will come on to those later.
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There are significant issues here. The sense of the Committee is certainly one of great concern about the implications for access to justice. The phrase of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Woolf, that access to justice should be easier and not more difficult in the context of judicial review is exactly the right way to approach these matters. I am sorry to have to repeat this, but it appears to need repetition: let us not forget that one side in these cases is the Government or a public agency for which, no doubt, it is not particularly desirable to expend resources, but for which resources are not, essentially, a problem. Incidentally, where is the evidence—apart from the £82,000 that the noble Lord referred to in the Richard III case—of how much money the Government have spent on cases where they have succeeded in these areas? That is a matter that might be of some help to the House.
The crucial issue here is that the Government are laying down a framework in their own interests as a respondent on behalf of other public agencies. This is a matter that should be left entirely to the discretion of the courts, which have no vested interest at all. For that reason it is a matter clearly to which we will have to return on Report, unless the Government have sensible second thoughts. However, at this stage I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.