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Rates (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 2006

I thank the Minister. He is being unrealistic. It has been, as he knows, Treasury policy to insist on substantial annual increases in rates for quite some time. While the Minister hopes that this proposal will be revenue neutral in the year in which it is introduced, there will be a significant increase in rates in that year because of the Treasury’s requirements. People on the ground are obviously going to judge this new system on the basis of the bills they receive. The 45 per cent, in particular, but also the 55 per cent, are likely to find themselves facing large increases because of the Treasury. The Treasury’s insistence on rate increases will probably damn these proposals in the eyes of the people of Northern Ireland when they get their bills. The Minister is being quite unrealistic by emphasising that it is not a revenue-raising measure. The rates are a revenue-raising measure from the point of view of the Treasury, and the Minister knows that.