Business Rate Supplements Bill

I have to say to the hon. Gentleman that the whole tenor of his speech was one of carping, criticism and attacks. I quoted his words at the end of his speech, which he made very clear; he indicated that the Bill would bring ““more harm than good””. Those were his words; he felt that it would bring fewer benefits than disbenefits. If he takes that view, he is condemning Crossrail, given that Crossrail is far and away the largest scheme that is likely to benefit from the Bill. He is trying to say, ““Well, the measures are okay for Crossrail, but not for anything else,”” but that stance is intellectually unjustified and incoherent, as I will demonstrate later. It is an attempt to cast a veil of respectability over the disreputable argument that the Bill is not beneficial. The Bill is important because it helps to build partnerships between business, local government and other stakeholders for the funding of necessary infrastructure. People may ask why that is necessary, when there is already a business improvement district scheme. A brief reference was made to BIDs at an earlier stage in the debate. As I made clear, I believe strongly that the BID scheme is an important initiative that helps local investment in improving areas. If we look at the BIDs created to date, the pattern is that they are essentially local. The focus on improvement is very much to do with relatively small-scale local enhancements, such as improving the cleanliness, safety and attractiveness of shopping areas, making it easier for people to access those areas and to benefit from shopping there. Those are the main characteristics of most of the BIDs put in place to date. Of course, we are talking about major infrastructure investment on a much larger scale. The benefits will be felt over a much wider area than the relatively small town centres that have tended to adopt BIDs. I am a strong supporter of BIDs, but the BID mechanism alone is not sufficient. Crossrail is a classic illustration of why the Bill is necessary, and why there needs to be a larger, more extensive and ultimately more robust framework for funding important infrastructure, in cases where business stands to benefit substantially from that investment.