I thank the Minister. He has responded fully. The way in which he has presented the Government’s case throughout our deliberations on the Bill has been helpful and he is showing great patience in dealing with all the points that have been raised. I thank him for that.
Notwithstanding that, three essential points arise under Clauses 68 and 69, as with all the other parts of Part 4 that we debated on Monday and today. They are three issues that the Minister really does need to consider further. The first—and I should be grateful if the noble Lord could respond before Report—is: what is the mischief that Clauses 68 and 69 seek to address? How many of these costs-capping orders apply other than in the specialised field of environmental cases, which are dealt with separately under Clause 70 because of the convention that applies to them? His answer to that was, “Well, the Government are also concerned about the future”. Of course, that is right, but is there any basis for thinking that the way in which the judges have dealt with this issue and will continue to deal with it is inadequate in any sense? I do not understand what the mischief is.
The second point that the Minister needs to reflect on is whether any mischief is sufficiently substantial to justify confining judicial discretion in this area and conferring powers on the Lord Chancellor to regulate this area by subordinate legislation.
The third point that I ask the Minister to reflect on is what the consequences will be for access to justice. As he has heard, a number of noble Lords are concerned that the result will inevitably be detrimental.
I very much hope that over the summer the Minister will have the opportunity to sit down with the Lord Chancellor, Mr Grayling, perhaps on a beach somewhere —I know how dedicated the noble Lord is to his departmental responsibilities—and explain to him the difficulties that have been addressed on Clauses 68 and 69. If, as I hope, the Minister has the opportunity to do that, then perhaps together with his sun cream he will take with him a red pen to strike out the parts of these clauses that have been criticised. If he does not do so, I suspect that on Report this House will want carefully to consider doing precisely that for the Government. In the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.