Non-Domestic Rating (Collection and Enforcement) (Local Lists) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2009

My Lords, I, too, support my noble friend Lord Attlee in this Motion. At a time when seldom a week goes by without a Minister coming to the Dispatch Box to announce some initiative to rescue the car industry, the banks or the housing industry, it seems like a classic own goal to allow this measure, which will cost real jobs, to go through. As we have heard from the noble Lord, Lord Greenway, there are some businesses for which it is already too late—they have gone into receivership. Many are clinging on by their fingernails. CAT UK, a company based in Grangetown in the north-east of England is doing good business in very tough times, importing cars from Renault. It has been faced with a tax bill of £500,000. That is a huge sum; even if it is repaid over eight years, it still amounts to something like £40,000 per year. I do not know whether the Minister is aware of how many of these businesses are at the tipping point, where something like this will tip them over the edge. Is she aware of the difficult relationship that many of these companies have with their banks? The fact that a liability has to be crystallised and recognised on their balance sheet will cause great difficulties with the banks and in accessing appropriate credit. The Government’s Insolvency Service has warned Ministers that the liability will remain even if the debt is repaid by instalments. It wrote to John Healey on 9 February 2009, saying: ""The debt, like any other, would need to have to be booked immediately. Depending on the company’s overall financial strength, it may not have the assets to cover this additional liability. In such circumstances, the company would be balance sheet insolvent"." These are very serious charges. If this was due to the recklessness of the companies themselves—some 1,600 in 55 ports are affected by this—of course one could not expect the Government to go round bailing people out left, right and centre. But this was not a result of the recklessness of those 1,600 businesses; this was a result of the recklessness and failure of the Valuation Office Agency, as has been acknowledged. The fault does not stop at the Valuation Office Agency. It was responsible for not consulting, but under the Treasury’s own guidelines, no impact assessment was made, as stated in Hansard on 7 October 2008 at col. 594W; no consultation was undertaken, again in line with Treasury guidance, as stated in Hansard on 6 October 2008 at col. 351W; no assessment had been made of the effect on the wider economy, a charge which was acknowledged by the Government in Hansard on 14 January 2009 at col. 761W; and the policy contravenes the Treasury’s own guidance on retrospective taxation, as stated in Hansard on 9 October 2008 at col. 802W. There is an irrefutable case for rethinking this policy before it is too late. It will cost jobs in many business that are really struggling at the present time. It will be a catastrophic own goal. We shall drive business offshore. My noble friend Lord Sterling spoke about the options that shipping companies have. Those apply not only to the companies that were mentioned. I mentioned CAT UK. Renault is talking to it about the possibility of relocating its operations to Zeebrugge and shipping cars across as they are needed to order, rather than storing them port side. On the negative side, this is an own goal. However, on the positive side, it is a marvellous opportunity for the Government to come to the rescue.