Tories pledge to halt collection of backdated port rates from firms

THE Conservative Party yesterday vowed to halt collections of backdated rates which have been blamed for job losses at Britain's ports if they win the General Election.

A fierce row erupted following a review of port ratings carried out by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), which aimed to ensure all businesses were rated fairly.

As a result, some port businesses, including those in Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire, received backdated rates liabilities to April 1 2005.

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Leaders of businesses based in British ports estimated, that unless action to tackle the 'ratings crisis' was taken by the Government, the industry faced 150,000 job losses.

Yesterday, Bob Neill, the Shadow Minister for Local Government, said: "It is the height of economic incompetence to impose unexpected, backdated taxes on a vital part of Britain's export industry in the depths of the worst recession since the War."

Lord Michael Bates, a member of the shadow Department for Communities and Local Government team, said: "If elected, we will have an immediate moratorium on collections of arrears, which is the real issue that is causing the problem.

"We will then initiate a review of the industry to find out a way forward.

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"We hope this will stave off local authorities who are pursuing the businesses for the payment of these arrears.

"With just cause they can now claim this is something that is a matter of public debate between the political parties."

Leaders of the campaign against the backdated port rates include David Johnson, the finance director of Goole-based port operator the RMS Group.

He said: "The row over backdated port rates has meant that we have been unable to develop the business for two years. The rules on the rateable values and berths have been put together in a haphazard and inconsistent manner.

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"The VOA have succeeded in destroying a competitive, level playing field."

He said the councils, who had the job of collecting the backdated rates, were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

He added: "They don't want to create mass unemployment in their local constituency.

"It's time the Government brought its officials in the VOA into line as well as cancelling the whole sorry process back to April 2005.

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"We have a new rating review starting April 1, 2010. Surely to bring this crisis to an end an announcement that the new system would begin next month is the only sensible option? This requires the Government to act rather than talk."

RMS Group has acknowledged that it had received "strong support" from local Labour MPs Ian Cawsey and Austin Mitchell.

In January, RMS Group's chief executive Peter Aarosin said the backdated rates demands had dealt businesses, which were already being hit by the recession, a double blow.

Trade at RMS had fallen by 25 per cent during 2009 and he had subsequently made 30 staff out of a 300-strong workforce redundant.

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Liberal Democrat Shadow Business Secretary, John Thurso said yesterday: "The Government needs to look again at how it deals with these cases so that no more port companies are forced out of business."

A Labour Party spokesman referred the Yorkshire Post to the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) for comment.

A DCLG spokesman said: "We've already provided real help for businesses to ease the pressures on ratepayers including some in ports who have faced unexpected backdated bills, allowing them to pay them over eight years instead of paying immediately.

"Additionally, the VOA has introduced a fast-track system for ratepayers affected by the ports review who want to question or challenge their assessment."

What david cameron said...

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Conservative leader David Cameron last week told an audience of Yorkshire Post readers that he couldn't give a commitment to saving firms who had gone bust due to backdated port rates.

At the event held in The Queens Hotel in Leeds, he was asked byRichard Kendall, the policy executive of Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Shipping: "Some firms based in ports are facing backdated business rate bills thanks to the Government's incompetence. Will you commit to saving them, if elected?"

Mr Cameron said: "I can't commit to retrospectively chan-ging things that have already happened before the election. We do think that business rate relief should be automatic.

"We think the Government should be helping business in terms of bill paying; we suggested that during the recession in terms of VAT and payment of other taxes...I can't make any retrospective commitment now to some time in the future."