Business Rate Supplements Bill

The hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster speaks regularly to the Mayor of London. I cannot copy the Mayor’s accent but he says that revenue helps to secure borrowing, and the hon. Gentleman should be aware of that important point as the MP representing an area that covers the City of London. The hon. Member for Cotswold (Mr. Clifton-Brown) made a suggestion that I really hope is taken up by his Front-Bench colleagues. He said that the whole country should pay the levy for Crossrail, and not just London businesses. Should that become Conservative policy, I look forward to visiting the constituencies of his hon. Friends to see whether they are in favour of it. The hon. Gentleman compared the UK to Hong Kong, which I found slightly surprising. He also put forward conspiracy theories about the Government’s motives in making our proposals.