SOUTHAMPTON City Council's transport boss has sent an eleventh hour objection to Government plans to hike shipping taxes by up to 67 per cent.

Backing the Daily Echo's campaign, Tory Councillor Matt Dean said the tax rise put at risk the recovery and future expansion of city's port after a "significant job losses" and reduced levels of freight during the downturn.

He said an increase in the light dues, which fund the country's network of lighthouses, could reduce the number of ships visiting the port with "severe economic consequences" for the region.

The marine community and business leaders from across Hampshire have united in calling on the Government to abandon the plan.

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The levy sees ships taxed by weight. The Government is proposing the rate climb from 35p a net tonne to 41p, and the cap up to which the rate is payable rise from 35,000 tonnes to 50,000 tonnes.

As previously reported the rise is needed to tackle a £21m shortfall in the funding of lighthouses, much of which is down to an historic agreement that the UK funds the maintenance of Irish navigational aids.

It is this subsidy, estimated to be as much as £14m, that has angered the Lights Advisory Committee (LAC), which represents shipowners, ports and the fishing community.

The issue was discussed as Conservatives launched their south east European Parliament campaign at the docks this week.

City council finance chief and Tory parliamentary candidate councillor Jeremy Moulton has urged the city's Labour MP for Test Alan Whitehead to press the Government for the UK's three separate General Lighthouse bodies to be brought together to make efficiency savings and for an end to the Irish subsidy.

"At present the cost split falls unfairly upon ships using UK ports only," he said.

Mr Whitehead has called for a "wider root and branch review" of how the taxes are collected and what they pay for.

The Government's deadline for consultation responses ended on Monday.