Rating and Valuation (S.I., 2009, No. 204)

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. As the businesses were given no notification, they were not able to plan for the increase in rates in the way that they ordinarily would. In the course of last year, those businesses were suddenly told—two years after the event—not only that they would be subject to a significant increase in rates, but that those increases in rates would be backdated to 2005. That is why businesses in ports across the country are experiencing enormous increases in their rates, in both real terms and cash terms.