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Gambling Act 2005 (Horserace Totalisator Board) Order 2007

I thank the Minister for reading out his speech on the three orders. The first order is a continuation order, which we have to pass as a consequence of the Government taking a U-turn on their original decision to abolish the Horserace Betting Levy Board. As we have heard, that was as a result of a ruling by the European Court of Justice in November 2004 casting doubt on the viability of the proposed replacement funding model. This is not a very satisfactory state of affairs; in fact it is a mess. When, if ever, do the Government expect that secure funding will be available to carry out their original intentions regarding the Levy Board? The second order is also a continuation order, which is necessary because of the interminable delays over the sale of the Tote. The Government clearly forgot the European state-aid rules when formulating their original plans. Some six years later, it now seems likely that this will happen at last. However, will the Minister say when and tell us the real market value of the Tote? What has been the cost to the taxpayer of these many negotiations, and are the Government certain that the ownership of the Tote is legally vested in them? The third order need not delay us for long, as it is merely an enabling measure necessary to permit the Horserace Betting Levy Board and the British Boxing Board of Control to be added to the list of bodies to which the Gambling Commission can supply information. These three orders should not have been necessary and are direct evidence of the way in which the Government have continually mishandled the horseracing industry in the past few years.