Business Rate Supplements Bill

That is generous of the Minister. I wanted to comment specifically on what he has just said about London. As he will know, the circumstances of the 32 London boroughs vary enormously. I am sure that outer- London borough councils such as Havering—which has received a central Government grant of £240 per head, compared with the average of £526 per head—will be tempted by the prospect of raising additional funds through the supplementary rate. The financial circumstances of such councils are very different from the circumstances of the councils in the west end of London to which the right hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Mr. Raynsford) referred earlier, with their prosperous businesses. The outer-London boroughs tend to contain very small businesses.