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Planning-gain Supplement (Preparations) Bill

I am pleased to be joined on the Front Bench by my hon. Friend the shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, who has returned hot foot from a meeting this morning of the Select Committee on Scottish Affairs in Dundee especially to be here for the winding-up speeches on the new clause. Would that more Labour Back Benchers had turned up for the debate. The debate has been valuable in that it has allowed us to press the Government on how they believe that the PGS will operate in Scotland. It has also served to highlight the continued tensions between the Treasury in London and the Scottish Executive over the proposed implementation of the PGS north of the border. I have listened carefully to the Financial Secretary on the matter, but he has not entirely convinced me. Indeed, he has not convinced me at all. I also suspect that he has not convinced the hon. Member for Edinburgh, North and Leith (Mark Lazarowicz), who reasonably asked him for more detail about the proposal’s operation in Scotland. Despite that reasonable plea from the Labour Back Benches, we have been neither told the rate at which the tax would be levied in Scotland or anywhere else in the United Kingdom nor given any further detail about its implementation in Scotland or the proportions between the Scottish Executive and any locality that is asked to accept a development for which money might be earmarked or ring-fenced. Despite being given a golden opportunity this afternoon, the Financial Secretary has not added much to the sum of human knowledge about the PGS’s operation in Scotland. I am therefore left with the thoughts of Mr. David Melhuish, director of the Scottish Property Federation, who concluded his letter of yesterday with a plea for continued opposition to the PGS and the hope that:"““In the Scottish context, the PGS is not taken further without proper evidence-based policy making.””" It is not exactly a secret on a par with the Trident codes that the Government are under considerable pressure in the run-up to the Scottish elections in May. I do not want to be accused of helping the Government out of their predicament. Nevertheless, it occurs to me that, given the weight of opposition to the PGS in Scotland, including from many Labour supporters, it might be sensible for the Government drawing back while they still can and announce their decision to abandon their misguided intention to proceed with the PGS in the United Kingdom, including Scotland. Having left the Financial Secretary with what I hope will be a genuinely lingering thought, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the motion. Motion and clause, by leave, withdrawn.