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

Ports are vitally important, both for the people who work in them and for the community businesses that feed off them. The port of Poole is successful, but that takes very hard work. As we have heard, the problem with the proposal is that it is retrospective legislation that will undermine the viability of some businesses. Many businesses felt that they were already making a contribution through the agreements reached with their ports. I visited the port of Poole last Friday, and it is clear that it is being affected by the recession. Fewer passengers are using the ferry, and the number of haulage movements, both from the continent and from our side of the channel, has fallen by between 25 and 30 per cent. Over the next few years, businesses are going to find it very hard to carry this additional burden. It is a pity that the arguments made by hon. Members of all parties have not been taken on board. I know that the Government are trying to do what they can by spreading the payment over eight years, but I am not sure that that is the solution to a very difficult problem. Ports are very competitive places to do business. Some companies will move, jobs will be lost and the viability of some firms will be threatened. The measure will make nonsense of the tax system, if it kills the golden goose. I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill) for praying against the order, as that has given us an opportunity to discuss these matters. I fear that the problem will recur again and again over the next three or four years, as companies struggle to pay their major liabilities. As I have said, Poole is a successful port, but that success comes only through hard work. This added burden will have a major impact on businesses both large and small that provide very important services for those who use the port. Because so many hon. Members want to speak in this debate, I do not intend to say much more than that. I therefore enter my protest against this proposal, on behalf of my constituents and the businesses operating out of Poole. They feel that they are being very hard done by, and I wish that more could be done to assist them in these very difficult times.