PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES - United Kingdom Parliament

1571 Easter Adjournment
26 MARCH 2013 Easter Adjournment
1572
[Mr Gareth Thomas]
that the Deputy Leader of the House will speak to the
Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and
encourage them to use their influence to support such
an investigation.
There is, too, the fiasco of the five points deducted
for messing up the registration paperwork of the London
Welsh scrum half, Tyson Keats, even though no one
disputes his entitlement to seek employment in the UK,
his eligibility to seek work as a professional rugby
player or indeed—should the call come—his eligibility
to play for England. I very much regret today’s decision
to turn down London Welsh’s appeal against this grim
five-point deduction. Quite why the crime is so severe
that it should merit such a huge penalty, when other
clubs making similar mistakes have not been hit so
hard, is frankly difficult to fathom. Exeter fielded an
extra overseas player in one of its matches last season
and was hit with only a two-point fine. Leicester fielded
Manu Tuilagi some seasons ago, despite his effectively
being an illegal immigrant. The club was not penalised
any points at all. One would think there would be some
expectation by the RFU that Leicester would have
checked his status; instead, the RFU rallied round to
help him to get his status resolved.
The premiership should surely be a genuine competition
in which clubs battle it out on a level playing field. At
the moment, sadly, a newly promoted team first has to
climb a mountain to get to the playing field and is then
expected to play with one hand tied behind its back. It
is time that the funding of premiership rugby clubs
became much more transparent and that newly promoted
teams received appropriate funding.
6.10 pm
Priti Patel (Witham) (Con): Following last week’s
Budget debate, I welcome today’s opportunity to highlight
some key business-related issues affecting my constituency
and my constituents.
The House will be well aware that Essex is a county of
entrepreneurs, as there are many successful small businesses.
That is why the first item on my list is Her Majesty’s
Revenue and Customs, which continues to act as a barrier
to businesses and many small firms in my constituency.
To put this into some kind of context, HMRC has spent
over 10 years relentlessly pursuing and seeking to punish
my constituent, Mr Philip Wright. His case relates to a
complex issue surrounding tax paid in the construction
industry. Despite Mr Wright losing his business, being
unwell and being of very limited means and having
previously won an initial court hearing, HMRC continues
to drag this case on, persecuting my constituent. HMRC
has made many errors, yet it seems to be determined to
secure a precedent-setting victory over Mr Wright at a
further court hearing later this year.
This case shows how HMRC has targeted its efforts
on the defenceless and on easy targets, while letting
larger firms off the hook. It also shows once again how
inept HMRC has been. My constituent had built up his
own business and spent years doing the right thing. It is
about time that HMRC did the right thing. I urge the
Government, and particularly the Treasury Minister
responsible for HMRC, to leave Mr Wright in peace.
Today is quite a significant day, as we have to ask
ourselves whether the official who presided over so
many failures at the UK Border Agency is the right
person to fix HMRC, with all its backlog of cases and
problems.
The next business example from my constituency
highlights problems with the Valuation Office Agency.
The VOA, as it is fondly known, is an executive agency
of HMRC, and it has spent the past three years sitting
on a firm’s business rate re-evaluation appeal. In June
2010, the business requested a reduction on the basis
that the rateable value applied was
“incorrect, excessive, contrary to law and a disproportionate
reflection on the change in rental values in the locality”.
The VOA has sat on its hands for three years and done
nothing. This is yet another example of bureaucracy
not understanding how businesses operate in the real
world, as a result of which I understand about 250,000
further appeals in similar instances are outstanding. I
urge Ministers to take action to end this bureaucratic
shambles and to press the VOA to get its act together.
Last week’s Budget has been positively welcomed by
business, which is why I urge Ministers and the Government
to press local councils to unleash local businesses from
business rates and to tell local authorities to use their
new powers to reduce rates and take a more flexible
approach to local business taxation. My constituent,
Duncan Clark, is an outstanding local entrepreneur
who converted a redundant out-house building into a
cookery school, creating two full-time jobs. He has
taken a risk to set up that business and has a great “can
do” attitude—the type of attitude that this country
needs to grow into a more prosperous future. He should
be congratulated on what he is doing; instead, of course,
he faces a £6,000 bill for his rates. I hope that the
Government will urge local councils to use their powers
over business rates to foster a competitive spirit of
business enterprise in this environment. That would
help start-ups and help business men such as Mr Clark.
Many of the problems that I have highlighted
demonstrate that the public sector needs to have a
greater understanding and appreciation of the private
sector. If those public bodies engaged more constructively
with the private sector, they would enhance their own
understanding. A great example of that happened in
Witham town, when Essex county council listened to a
body called Witham Industrial Watch, whose business
members monitor criminal activity on our industrial
sites. The county council was on the verge of taking
away the street lighting on the industrial estate, but
Witham Industrial Watch made a persuasive case to the
council. I pay tribute to the council and to the cabinet
member for highways for realising that it made business
sense to work with Witham Industrial Watch to get the
right outcome.
I look forward to hearing the Government’s response.
Let me take this opportunity to wish you, Mr Deputy
Speaker, and all the staff of the House a very pleasant
Easter recess.
6.15 pm
George Galloway (Bradford West) (Respect): The world
is still divided, as we know. The plight of poor children
in that divided world preoccupies tens of thousands of
the finest of our citizens. The proximate cause of my