Member

It may well be that something will be done about this in the Spring Statement, but at the moment, in the absence of an industrial strategy, it is important that the Government maintain the capacity to opt to apply a lower multiplier for manufacturing industries. There was a recent report by Barclays Bank which concluded that the words “Made in Britain” were worth an additional £3.5 billion to UK exporters. I hope very much that the Minister may be able to reassure us that the Government are aware of the stresses on the manufacturing sector, that the drop in confidence that has occurred since the autumn needs to be reversed and that one way of doing that is to give the Government the power to keep open the option of applying a lower multiplier in business rates. That is the purpose of Amendment 4, and I hope we will hear some positive words from the Minister when he comes to reply.