Rating (Empty Properties) Bill

My Lords, I am grateful to noble Lords who participated in this debate and accept the ritual complaint that the House has limited opportunities to debate the Bill because it has been defined as a money Bill. That settlement goes back over many decades. I imagine, although I have not had the benefit of being in opposition in this House—nor am I likely to, I might add—that that cry has been emitted by members of all parties on the Opposition Benches from time to time. I recognise the frustration of articulate and well informed Peers in this House in this regard. Nevertheless, the noble Baroness would not expect me to advocate a constitutional revolution of that nature at this stage, even if she thought that she had the persuasive powers to tell me that it would be advantageous for the upper House to have greater powers with regard to finance and Treasury matters. I could not be persuaded on that. This is a short but important Bill. I hear the argument that it represents a tax grab. Of course it brings revenue to the Treasury. As the noble Baroness and the noble Lord, Lord Newby, recognised, it will bring revenue of £1 billion to the Treasury. Its purpose is to free up land. The noble Baroness gave me a small insight into economics and suggested that I should accept that there is no indication that a fall in the cost of renting buildings would be of any benefit to the potential person paying the rent. That is an interesting economic proposition. I should have thought that we would be safer following the general perspective established as long ago as Adam Smith on these issues. She should recognise that in this attempt to get costs down, we will seek improvement in the use of property that is already available.