Rating and Valuation (S.I., 2009, No. 204)

The hon. Gentleman has said a lot about the retrospective element that is being applied to these companies. Does he accept, and want to place on the record, the fact that none of those companies is saying that they do not accept that they must pay business rates and will not do so in future—that this is entirely about retrospection, and we cannot tell them to go back three years when they cannot go back to their customers and ask for the money?