Lord Fox (LD)

My Lords, all the amendments in this group provide for reviews of different aspects of the Bill. In moving Amendment 21, I will speak to Amendment 33 in my name and that of the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock. It is very clear from everything that we have heard in Committee and on Report that we are still very much in the dark as to how this Bill, when it becomes an Act, will affect our high streets. It was billed from the beginning as a measure that would save our high streets—that was clearly how it was marketed in the Commons. However, without the details that we seek, and without the context of those details, we really do not understand. The differences between these several amendments are, more or less, on the timing of when the review would happen. In our Amendment 21, the timing is that, before the Act comes into force: “The Secretary of State must publish and lay before Parliament an assessment of the impact of sections 1 to 4 of this Act on businesses, high streets, and economic growth”. If the Government are serious about their assertion that they are going to save our high streets, they need to be able to support that. Nothing the Minister has said at any point has underpinned that this will save our high streets. An impact assessment must consider the impact on different types of businesses, including small ones, and the impact on businesses operating mainly or solely on high streets, and whether the provisions will have a measurable impact on economic growth. That is the key because, from everything my noble friend and others have said, it seems that at the end of this process most businesses will be paying more in rates than they are currently paying—and how that delivers any kind of economic growth is something of a mystery to me. So that is the nature of Amendment 21. We also support the other amendments in this group. Amendment 24 in particular requires the Secretary of State to review the impact on “businesses whose rateable value is close to £500,000”. That of course brings us to the plateau issue. I will leave the noble Baroness on the Conservative Benches to speak to that, but in the event that she decides to push the amendment to a vote, we on these Benches will support it. I beg to move.