Council Tax (New Valuation Lists for England) Bill

If the hon. Gentleman gets in touch with some property people, he will find that prices are rising and falling almost simultaneously. I declare an interest as a regular columnist for the Estates Gazette, which is one reason why I know a little bit about these matters. It is now more difficult to forecast property prices because they are going in different directions in different places and in different bands. His question is more complex than it appears, so I shall not answer it—and if I did, I suspect that you would stop me, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I believe that a change has to take place, but that it is impossible to give the powers in the amendment to the Government because in the distribution of grant and of national health service funds and in a range of other examples, they have shown that they make party political and not objective decisions. I do not know of a Government of any kind—Labour, Conservative or, looking back a long time, Liberal—who have behaved as the present Government have done. That is an extremely sad thing for our democracy, because it undermines the ability to support this place and the way in which our democratic system works. It is noticeable that, for example, the major criterion in determining how much money goes to the NHS is no longer age, but deprivation, which is much more difficult to fix but has to do with the problems affecting a particular area, which may have nothing to do with health. The result—surprise, surprise—is that the areas with some of the oldest populations in the country do not get as much as some of the areas where there are far fewer health problems. That happens because of the technique that has been introduced. I cannot accept the amendment because I cannot trust the present Government. To be fair to the Minister, I do not take him in the same way, but like my right hon. Friend the Member for East Yorkshire, I do not believe that this House should trust any Government with any powers that it can avoid giving them. Governments exist to do as little as possible, not as much as possible, and the House must keep in its hands the powers of ensuring that Governments behave properly. Ultimately, that is why I am most unhappy about the amendment. Whether a Government are Tory or Labour—I am referring to likely Governments—they should not be trusted with the powers in the amendment, and the present Government should certainly not be trusted with anything that would enable them to manipulate the system for party political purposes. I do not want them to be tempted down a road that they are already further down than any previous Government. If the Minister assures me that he will give the matter his consideration, make some changes and table an amendment, I shall seek to ensure that the amendment is not pressed to a vote, and if it is pressed I shall vote against it. If, on the other hand, he cannot do that, I shall hope that the amendment is pressed and vote in favour of it.