Clause 1
Business Rate Supplements Bill
10:30 am
Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster, Conservative)
Will the hon. Gentleman indicate who would qualify for such a ballot? I do not wish to do the Government’s arguing for them, but it seems that this is a rather complicated situation. Would the qualification be on the basis of being a leaseholder at a particular time, a freeholder or an owner of property, or of having a particular interest? As he will know, in relation to the existing business vote in the City of London, in my constituency, it is only relatively recently that the qualification has gone beyond simply those in partnership and sole practitioners of businesses to a corporate vote with a complicated structure. How does he envisage the ballot and the qualification for it working?