Business Rate Supplements Bill

As I shall eventually withdraw Amendment 41, I shall speak to the substantive amendment in this group, Amendment 62. First, I declare an interest as chief executive of London First, a non-profit-making business membership organisation. There has been near unanimity across the House, and certainly from the Front Benches, on the importance of ensuring that the Bill provides funding to deliver Crossrail. There is a similar consensus that, whatever the merits of ballots for other projects, it is not needed in the case of Crossrail. As the noble Lord, Lord Bates, put it succinctly, and I believe accurately, during the first day in Committee: ""We are at one with the case for the Greater London Authority having the capabilities laid out in the Bill to raise funds … as its contribution towards Crossrail, to ensure that that major infrastructure project goes ahead, which we support fully. That has had a democratic test at the ballot box, and the people of London have expressed a view that is supportive of Crossrail.—[Official Report, 11/5/09; col. GC 306.]" Yet there seems to be some confusion about whether the Bill as currently drafted would allow the mayor to proceed with Crossrail, despite his success at the ballot box, without a further vote. There is similar uncertainty over what government regulations might provide this clarification and whether any such clarification would withstand judicial review. My amendment seeks to provide absolute clarity in the Bill that there is no requirement to hold a ballot in relation to a BRS levied by the mayor for the purposes of raising money for a project where the project has begun before the Bill becomes law and when the BRS is levied on or before 1 April 2011. I hope that the Minister will indicate the Government’s support for this simple but effective measure to give certainty to the Mayor of London’s power to meet his mandate and the Government’s commitment to the funding and delivery of Crossrail. I beg to move.