Business Rate Supplements Bill

I agree that, as ever, the ministerial team, the civil servants and the Opposition Front-Bench team have conducted the debate and the flow of information in respect of the Bill very constructively, which has been most helpful. I also wish to place on record my thanks to three individuals who have helped me prepare: Beth Warmington, Alex Davies and Lucy Monks put a great deal of work into this Bill, as they have on many other things. The Bill is a missed opportunity, in that there are some steps that have not been taken. We are very keen on the principle of allowing local authorities to explore whether this measure is appropriate in their area, which is why we were not able to support the Conservative amendment to restrict it to being a London-only measure. Sadly, however, given the time restriction, we were not able to have a debate about ballots, which is where we part company with the Government, as the Minister knows, because we believe that a ballot should be held in all circumstances.