Business Rates

Try telling that to some of the businesses that end up paying more. The hon. Gentleman seems to be living in a dream world. He should go and talk to some of the businesses across London that face huge rises. Ministers have to be careful. He may think that the revaluation should take place, but he surely agrees that that has to be done on the basis of knowledge of how it will impact on businesses. He is right to say that the revaluation is not intended to raise business rates, but if it is badly implemented, with no understanding of how it will work in practice, the danger is that it could do just that. It could put companies out of business, and then they will not pay business rates at all. Dare I say it, but Labour Members are showing their lack of knowledge about how business rates actually work.