Local Government Finance Bill

I completely agree with my hon. Friend. I tried on Second Reading to make some of those points. Local economies grow because of a range of factors, including transport and the availability and type of land—it is not all about what a local authority is doing. One can argue that a local authority should foster economic growth through its planning policies and decisions, but the vast majority of councils across the country do that already. The partial retention of business rates will not stimulate local authorities to think, ““Hang on, we need to look at our planning policies to decide what more we can do to foster economic growth.””