Business Rate Supplements Bill

Before my noble friend withdraws his amendment, I acknowledge the kindness of the Minister in saying that I would be as pleased as she is about the success of the BIDs. She obviously knows that I introduced a Bill into the House of Lords to introduce BIDs more than four years before the Government. As the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, will remember—because she took a full part in it—my Bill went through all stages in the House of Lords. It had its First Reading on 20 May 1997 and finally had its Third Reading on 6 April 1998. It was debated at some length on the Floor of the House. It then went to another place and, of course, as a Private Member’s Bill that the Government did not want at that stage to support, it fell. So you may imagine my astonishment when Part 4 of the Local Government Act 2003 came back and, lo and behold, introduced BIDs. Even more astonishing was the fact that it incorporated almost word for word what had been in my Bill in 1997. What really stuck in my throat, and why I mention this, was the total failure of the Minister on that occasion even to acknowledge that there had been an earlier Bill in this House. One of the least attractive characteristics of the present Administration is that they are determined to give no credit to anybody else at all, even when it is as obvious a case as that. That rankled; it really rankled. As the Minister can understand, I am not a person who bears grudges on the whole, but that was something that stuck in my throat. So, yes, as the Minister has acknowledged, I am delighted that BIDs have been such a success, but the Government need to reflect on whether simply to take over somebody else’s legislation almost word for word and introduce it as their own Bill without any acknowledgment is the best way to legislate.