---

Rating (Empty Properties) Bill

My hon. Friend crystallises the point that was made equally eloquently in the debate of just a few weeks ago by my hon. Friends the Members for St. Albans and for Salisbury. The way in which the use class system currently operates prevents properties from being deployed in the most efficient way. The problem is not just the use class system, however; other aspects of the planning system’s operation prevent properties currently lying empty, because their old use is no longer appropriate, from being redeployed for a more appropriate commercial or other use. When the real answer to a problem is deregulation, it is typical of this Government to propose a tax increase. It is a particular pity that the eloquence and intelligence of these two Ministers has been deployed in the service of making life more difficult for businesses, when their hearts surely cannot be in this measure. It is genuinely sad for us to have to contemplate these two Ministers bringing forward a measure that will mean that, once again, the wealth creators, the enterprising and the bringers of opportunity are forced to pay for the Chancellor’s inability to balance the books, but there we have it.