Clause 1 - Dates on which new valuation lists must be compiled for England
Council Tax (New Valuation Lists for England) Bill
10:30 am
David Howarth (Shadow Minister, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister; Cambridge, Liberal Democrat)
The amendments have a common theme, which I shall explain later. Amendment No. 1 is more of a probing amendment than amendment No. 2, although it would have an important material effect if it were passed—sunsetting the power to order revaluation at the point of the next general election and requiring the Government to make new proposals at that time for what they wanted to do about local government finance. It would also, one would hope, encourage the Government—indeed, all parties—to state their intentions in the run-up to that election, rather than after it.
It is an important point that this Bill did not, as far as I know, form part of the Government’s general election manifesto. This policy has not yet been put to the electorate, and the amendment would encourage the Government to do so for the next election. At that point, if the amendment were agreed to, the Government could choose one of three options. First, they could repeat the current Bill and restore the power to call off revaluations. Secondly, they could accept what appeared to be the line of the official Opposition—the Conservative party—on Second Reading and say that there should be no power to revalue at all in the future. Thirdly, they could adopt our position—