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The Tote

Well, to be honest, I do not know how to get a gross and a net figure on that—perhaps my hon. Friend could explain what he means. I understand that the statement made in the House referred to 50 per cent. of the sale. I would have thought that meant gross. I do not know why we would net down the figure—although I think there is a top slice, which I will mention in a moment. It is important to put the seven years clearly into perspective. It is a transitional period for taking the Tote from where it is now. It was nationalised, but as has been mentioned, it was not run by anybody before that. We had to nationalise it, which we did—I took the Act through Parliament—and it is now being put back into the private sector. We have had seven years in which to get the Tote fit for purpose, so that it can go into the marketplace. It is important to give the Tote a firm foundation on which to grow—it is in everybody's interests to do that. I will come back to that point. The setting up of the trust and payment of the 50 per cent. gross or net into the trust should carry with it an agreement that the Tote can operate on all race courses in perpetuity. It is important for that statement to be made because it underlines, in part, the security of the Tote itself. The new Tote trust, as I call it, would have responsibility for the pool, the credit line and the internet part of the operation. The shops would go, but those three elements—the pool, the credit line and the internet—would be the business of the new Tote trust. The trust's board would be composed of the executive directors of the Tote itself, representatives from the Horsemen's Group and the bookmakers and non-execs. The terms of reference would be to consolidate the Tote in the UK and take advantage of the growing international business. Even with the Tote's limited resources and the difficulties of continuing to run it during the uncertainty in which it has been wrapped, there is no doubt that major advances have been made in the international marketplace. For example, the lottery has gone Europe-wide, and the information communications technology that now exists means that there is a fantastic opportunity to grow the Tote. In the UK, we probably have the best regulatory regimes anywhere in the world. People respect that and the integrity of those regulations is revered around the world. That can be used to develop the international Tote, based in Wigan. The Australians, the French and others, particularly in the far east, are considering such developments, which are highly possible because of the ability to move information electronically in a way that probably was not possible even 10 years ago. The staff of the Tote and the way in which they have operated, particularly in the past three and a half years, in growing the international part of the Tote's business leads me to believe that, given fair investment, which is important, and the ability to build up with certainty a strong Tote UK, it could be the centre for an international operation as well. Taking a proportion of the proceeds from the sale of the shops to invest in the Tote should be part of the agreement, too.