Win for UK ports on backdated rates row

Following a victory for UK ports in the House of Lords to remove unfair, backdated rates, the Humber and Mersey Docks Rating Group has called on the Government to remove any uncertainty about the imposition of retrospective business taxes.

Andrew Finfer: ‘The government is defending a system that is not equitable to all' The government recently suffered its third defeat on the imposition of backdated business rates when Conservative, Liberal Democrat and cross-bench peers overcame a government three line whip and carried a Motion of Regret by Lord Michael Bates, deputy chairman of the Conservative party, by six votes.

Further, the upper House, backing the ports in their battle, have called for a review of the highly controversial Valuation Office Agency (VOA) bills that have threatened the viability of many UK port businesses and a moratorium on payment of backdated rates until the review has been carried out.

However, Andrew Finfer, solicitor acting for the docks group, said that if amendments fail to be made, we “will see more businesses close at UK ports and this will act as a major disincentive to multi-national businesses considering setting up or continuing operations in the UK.”

Kieran Hall, chair of the Mersey Dock Rating Group, added: "It is striking that the Business Minister, Lord Mandelson, has been quick to jump to the defence of MPs in the current expenses debacle, stating that he understands their outrage about having to pay retrospective expenses when they had followed the rules of the House.

"Yet he has chosen to ignore a similar plea from businesses at British ports who, out of the blue, have been told they must pay crippling, backdated rates because the rating office made mistakes four years ago, despite the fact that the affected businesses abided by the rules and paid what was due at the time. Is it because Lord Mandelson is in-tune with the Westminster village but cannot relate to the grittier, real world of British docks?”

Further, Mr Finfer added that despite government equivocation on ‘changing the rules’, it does seem the Minister responsible, John Denham, “has the power make a retrospective change to an existing regulation to remove the imposition of backdated liability without fault".

Source: Port Strategy