Port group fury over Government response to rates crisis

THE Government has announced it will not write off the huge backdated rates bills being faced by port businesses.

The decision has provoked outrage from campaigners from the Humber Docks Rating Group who are fighting to have the charges dropped to prevent job losses and business closures.

John Healey, Minister for Local Government, Department for Communities and Local Government said the backdated rates bills faced by port businesses would not be written off but that the Government would work with businesses to “soften the requirement to pay.”

Cancelling the bills would require primary legislation and would also raise issues of state aid and competition challenges, claimed Mr Healey.

Treasury sub-committee chairman, Michael Fallon welcomed the move to “mitigate” the impact of payment.

Andrew Finfer, of Schofield Sweeney in Leeds, representing the Humber Dock Rating Group, said: “Even if they give us 50 weeks or 100 weeks, as soon as businesses get that liability they could be technically insolvent. And they either commit a criminal offence and trade insolvently, or they go bust. “It seems that the ministers are happy for port businesses to go bust paying rates twice but giving them longer. The bad news is, they won’t be around to pay it.”

The row began over the retrospective collection of National Non-Domestic Rates (NNDR) which resulted in businesses in Hull being presented with unexpected bills totalling more than £20m, including payments for this year and back payments as far back as 2005.

Operators in the UK’s other 55 statutory ports are now bracing themselves for similar backdated demands totalling millions of pounds, and 65 other commercial ports face re-assessment.

Leaders of businesses based in British ports estimate that, unless the ratings crisis is tackled by the Government, the industry faces the potential loss of business worth up to £20bn and job losses of more than 150,000.

David Johnson, spokesman for the Humber Docks Rating Group, said: “It is absurd to say that delaying these payments will help any of the 678 companies involved. As soon as they face these ludicrous bills – most will be technically insolvent and should cease to trade. It is a criminal offence to continue to trade when technically insolvent. I sincerely hope that something is going to be done about this before it is too late. Just how many job losses does this government need before it sees sense?”