Rating (Empty Properties) Bill

My right hon. Friend makes an important point. There is concern about the impact of that arrangement on the community, including our constituents. Paragraph (j) refers to the Deeds of Arrangement Act 1914. The year, of course, was seminal, yet the imperial Parliament of the time passed the Act. No doubt the legislation was debated fully; no doubt it embodied the hopes and aspirations of many people. Now, 93 years later, we are contemplating inclusion of this provision not in the Bill, but possibly in a statutory instrument or regulation. The Act has stood the test of time. Perhaps the Minister will explain why what some have described as key legislation should not apply to the Bill. Paragraph (k) returns us to the Insolvency Act 1986. The Government have not done justice to that important Act in their one-clause Bill—a Bill which, however, is not small in terms of the money that it will raise: £1 billion. That is why a clear exemption is needed. We can only marvel at the number of hours that Parliament must have spent considering all the legislation to which we have referred today. In those days there was no programming. Debates were often open-ended, and most parts of the legislation would have been considered in great detail by many people.