Council Tax (New Valuation Lists for England) Bill

I beg to move, To leave out from ““That”” to the end of the Question, and to add instead thereof:"““this House declines to give a Second Reading to the Council Tax (New Valuation Lists for England) Bill because the Bill merely delays rather than cancels the council tax revaluation, applies only to England and creates inequalities with other parts of the United Kingdom; and because the removal of the need for revaluation of domestic properties offers taxpayers no protection against the imposition of new higher council tax bands.””" Were I the Minister, given the speculation in the Sunday newspapers about his position as regards the future leadership of his party and given the Chancellor’s tolerance of such matters, I do not think that I would have used the words ““young pretender”” in this context. However, on that brief note of solidarity with the right hon. Gentleman, I congratulate him, because only the last Blairite on the Government Benches could have delivered that speech with a straight face. It was nothing more than a panic attack—nothing more than the fear of wipeout at next May’s elections. The Prime Minister’s credibility is apparently at stake, and his credibility is so low that he fears the result that the electorate will produce in May. Postponement is not cancellation. I hope that I am not doing the Minister an injustice, but, frankly, to describe the reason for the postponement as a success of local area arrangements strikes me as stretching credulity. There is little doubt that the right hon. Gentleman is regarded as the Prime Minister’s plenipotentiary on earth. So let us just have a touch of reality. For the convenience of the House, I have managed to collect the reaction of the specialist press to the right hon. Gentleman’s announcement. I have here a very nice photograph of the right hon. Gentleman scratching his ear from the Local Government Chronicle, which says, ““Miliband on the run. Funding reform delay as minister ducks his first tough decision.”” It continues:"““The announcement was met with dismay and incredulity by many in local government, who said urgently needed reform on council tax has been sacrificed for political expediency.””" In a comment piece, which is a bit tough but nevertheless I feel that my hon. Friends may want to hear it, Kerry Lorimer, says:"““David Miliband was in prime ministerial mode, making up in expansive gestures what he lacked in expertise . . . Five months in the job, maybe it’s time for the new boy to grow up.””" That is a bit harsh, but I felt that I had to share it.