---

Council Tax (New Valuation Lists for England) Bill

I was trying to make a point about what the Bill omitted, but clearly we shall have to have that detailed debate elsewhere. My point is that this is a ridiculous waste of time and energy and that going through this saga is holding local government back from making decisions itself, which is vital. I am disappointed that the Bill does not include those matters because it is vital for improving public services that we have that kind of provision. We are easily distracted by revaluation, which we all know would only fuel the sense of outrage in its losers, who already hate the tax anyway. The political implications of rocketing bills are easy to grasp. Certain Government members probably even revel in having made a barefaced U-turn on revaluation because it means that they can boast about their honesty in admitting a mistake. The Minister of Communities and Local Government, the right hon. Member for South Shields (Mr. Miliband), said at the time that the Government were still moving forward—just in a completely different direction. Clearly, he is a great wit, but his position is of no help to those in local government who need to know what the Government are planning. The bizarre argument that the Government are postponing Lyons and revaluation to allow Sir Michael Lyons to look at the issue in a more holistic way does not hold water. The date for revaluation has been set in stone since the last Local Government Act. Why did it take the Government two years to realise that voters live in houses? Revaluation is basically a political sideshow. Postponing it does nothing to help pensioners lining up to go to prison because they cannot pay. Nor does it do anything to tackle the injustice of families on half the national average household income paying over £1,000 in council tax. This has been a relatively short speech, but then this is a short Bill that aims low and achieves less. Frankly, there is not that much to say about it. If it is passed with no further reforms, we shall have the absurd situation of having a tax based on a poor guess at a home’s value 15 years ago. But rejecting it, as the Conservatives are trying to do today, would be just as pointless, because revaluation would do nothing to make council tax fairer either. It would just make it slightly different. Frankly, neither option is appealing.