In a speech at the offices of the Bar Standards Board last night, Mark Neale, the Director General of the BSB, set out five arguments for the independent regulation of the Bar by the BSB.
He argued that:

professional regulation is not like the regulation of utilities and the regulator can and should collaborate with the profession - “we are not adversaries”
but the interests of the public and those of the profession are not always the same
so the regulator must make independent judgements as to how well the profession is serving the public interest
the risks and opportunities at the Bar will not necessarily match those of the other legal professions
and therefore independence of decision-making and operational and psychological independence are essential to the Bar Standards Board’...