Clause 1 - Dissolution of the tote
Horserace Betting and Olympic Lottery Bill
9:45 am
Mr James Paice (South East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
I largely agree with every word that my hon. Friend and the hon. Member for Bath said. I am in a slightly difficult position, because I, too, considered tabling an amendment in similar vein but was dissuaded from doing so by the Tote itself, which felt that it might not be helpful to include such detail in the Bill. Nevertheless, as my hon. Friend said, this is an opportunity to explore the mechanism by which the Tote will be valued and, at least, to get a commitment from the Minister on 50 per cent. The hon. Member for Bath read out some of the Minister's winding-up speech on Second Reading. The Minister did not go quite as far as specifying 50 per cent. He talked about joint ownership and such things but did not make a commitment, although one could read one into his comments. He is smiling, which leads me to assume that I am right in saying that he fought shy of a final commitment, which I believe is necessary.