Rating (Empty Properties) Bill

I shall make my point first, if I may, then the hon. Gentleman can argue against my actual premise, rather than the premise that he is ascribing to me. That is an art that he has perfected. If the Government’s policy is successful, as we obviously hope and expect that it will be, rent will come down. The multiplier for non-domestic rates is capped at the retail prices index. The yield from non-domestic rates broadly rises with RPI broadly; that has been the experience. The hon. Member for Ludlow (Mr. Dunne) has done his research very well and he has significant experience, particularly of the retail sector, as his entries in ““Dod’s”” and the Register of Members’ Interests show, but his argument that the proportion of tax from business rates has gone up misses the obvious arithmetic—or is it algebraic?—point, which is that that is because corporation tax has gone down. Of course, the proportion coming from business rates relative to corporation tax will have gone up if corporation tax has come down, as it has again in the recent Budget. That point has not been made by hon. Gentlemen on the Opposition Benches and hon. Ladies from a sedentary position, yet I can still argue with justification that non-domestic rates have been capped at inflation as well. That is one of the reasons why the Government’s economic policy has been so strong for business. I invite the hon. Member for Surrey Heath to criticise the argument that we have actually used, not the argument that he says we have used.