Business Rate Supplements Bill

I wish you a happy new year, Madam Deputy Speaker. I thank right hon. and hon. Members who have taken part in this interesting and lively debate. I want to reiterate the purpose of the Bill, which seems to have been lost in hon. Members’ rustiness in Second Reading debates. It is another tool for local authorities, and introduces a new power for county councils, unitary district councils and the Greater London Authority. It will provide them with a new way of investing in the economic development of local areas and of working closely with local businesses, and it will enable local authorities to invest in projects aimed at promoting economic development that they would otherwise not be able to invest in. Let me be clear that if the Opposition are successful in defeating the Bill on Second Reading and the Bill does not pass into legislation or it is delayed, the London Mayor will simply not be able to levy a business rate supplement by April 2010 as he desires. I listened with interest as the hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Mr. Field) said that a delay in passing the business rate supplement would show a lack of confidence in the City. He cannot have his cake and eat it. When it comes to voting on Second Reading, he will have to decide whether he wants the Crossrail investment, with the additional jobs that that will create and the improvements to London that it will lead to, or whether he wants to play party politics.