PORT firms in Southampton wrestling with a backdated rates bill totalling £3.6m have been given hope the levy could be binned if there is a change of Government after the general election.

Liberal Democrats have said they would scrap the controversial tax while Conservatives promised they would look at it again.

Tory candidate for Southampton Itchen, Royston Smith, said the tax was “wreaking havoc” at the docks, where 24 Southampton firms have been hit by the Labour Government’s reorganisation of the way it charges companies on port land.

The total bill clocked up in the city was £3,610,788.12 for a period stretching back to 2005, over and above any rates already paid.

In Southampton more than 11,000 people are dependent on the docks for a living.

Up to 2009, in each of the 55 statutory ports in England and Wales, one combined business rate bill was paid by each port operator on behalf of all the firms within it. However, following a review initiated in May 2006, the Government’s tax inspectors, the Valuation Office Agency, decided that each firm is now a “separate occupation” and must each pay an individual business rate bill.

Fears companies across the country could go bust because of the extra costs resulted in moves to give them up to eight years to pay in interest-free instalments, but even that is not good enough, according to Cllr Smith.

He said: “This ports tax is wreaking havoc on firms, harming our export and import trade.

This botched tax is a mess. An incoming Conservative Government will call for an immediate halt to this process, and consult with industry over what steps can be taken to address it. Any measures will need to be fiscally neutral within the business rates system.”

Lib Dem candidate David Goodall said: “We would scrap these backdated business rates charged to port-based companies so that they are not unfairly penalised by the Government’s mistakes. This is a fairer tax policy and would save valuable jobs and businesses in Southampton.”

He said the Lib Dem plan would see the backdated business rate bills waived to port occupiers relating to periods before April 2008, when port occupiers could not reasonably have anticipated the massive increases in rates bills.