Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]

I too shall be brief. I concur with my right hon. Friend the Member for West Dorset (Mr. Letwin): it is a disgrace that the House should have been detained by the nonsense and ephemera of the Minister's 35-minute filibuster when there are important issues to discuss in respect of the Sustainable Communities Act 2007. I turn now to a subject to which far too little attention has been paid over the past few months and years—the economic assessment of ports. It is totally appropriate for us to debate that subject now, albeit briefly. The Government's policy is that retrospective taxation should take place only when it is fair, proportionate, necessary to protect revenue and in the public interest. The tax on ports is a clear breach of those tests. When they introduced that retrospective tax, the Government disregarded their own rules. No impact assessment was made, no consultation exercise was carried out with those affected—