Business Rate Supplements Bill

Obviously, all sides of the House support Crossrail, but I have heard arguments that the project and our desire to have it have been used as a Trojan horse—a form of seduction—to roll out the BRS scheme across the country. It has been likened to a form of mission creep as a means of gathering more public money. Whichever side of the argument you are on, I have a question for the Minister. Can she guarantee that other government spending or government grants will be in no way reduced because of local authorities’ ability to levy a business rate supplement?