Non-Domestic Rating (Deferred Payments) (England) Regulations 2009

My Lords, sadly, this subject comes before your House yet again, and quite rightly too. The Government have not listened to our previous debates and, from what I can gather, they do not intend to listen tonight. Why do they seem pathologically incapable of saying, as in this case, that they have got it wrong and that they will look at it again? Before I continue, I should declare that I have been a councillor in Norfolk for more than 10 years, I am a director of businesses paying business rates and I am an accountant. I mention that I am an accountant because it is relevant to this issue. A number of accountancy firms have made submissions saying that although the Government have deferred payment of these retrospective taxes and spread the payment over eight years, the accountants can do nothing else but ensure that the full liability is disclosed in the latest set of accounts. That means that many firms are insolvent or technically insolvent. If you look at the problem from the port businesses’ point of view, in this time of recession when cash flow is of the essence and their import and export business is thin on the ground, they may need to go to the bank for a loan to tide them over until business picks up. But what bank in its right mind is going to lend good money to a company whose auditors have just declared that the business is not a going concern, or that it is technically insolvent? Indeed, I understand that while this House was in Recess, 60 port businesses have already gone bust, and no doubt more will follow. What can these port businesses do? Well, they could go into voluntary administration, set up a new company, buy back any assets and continue to trade in the new company, thus leaving the backdated rates liability with the old company. Or they could just shut down their English operation and carry on their business from a continental port, and then transport their goods to this country by road. That would not be a good solution for our economy, as jobs and businesses would be lost for ever. What we need is a vibrant shipping import and export industry. We are told that the carbon footprint for shipping is much less than for air or road, so, from the climate change point of view, we should be nurturing and encouraging the expansion of the shipping business, not encouraging the expansion of airports and road usage, and certainly not putting forward measures that will drive our ports businesses to the wall. Despite the assurances we are given that the Government are helping businesses all they can through the recession, why do they seem determined, with these measures, to drive a nail into the coffin of the ports businesses? As we have heard, not all the members of the Cabinet agree with this policy. During the Recess Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, wrote a snorter of a letter to John Denham, the Secretary of State for Local Government, urging him to, ""remove this totally unfair burden on businesses that are already struggling to survive"" by, ""imposing a completely unfair, retrospective system that will destroy jobs and put these companies out of business"." I could not have put it better myself. It is not just Cabinet Ministers who have broken ranks over this issue. I understand that there are many Labour Party Back-Benchers who feel equally as strongly as the Home Secretary. I cannot understand why the Government will not listen to the concerns of port businesses and do something about it. Are they genuinely concerned with saving jobs and businesses? We are left with the distinct impression that they do not really care. They have made their decision, they are going to stick with it and they certainly will not admit that they have got it wrong. When we next hear from a government Minister that the Government are doing all they can for jobs and business, just remember what they have done for jobs and business at our ports.