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THE UK’s coalition government wants to treat the ports sector “with the respect it deserves”, said local government minister Bob Neill today.

He confirmed that millions of pounds worth of backdated rates bills faced by port companies around England and Wales will be cancelled via primary legislation as quickly as possible and the demands will, in the interim, be frozen for as long as necessary to allow for the legislation to be passed.

He also promised an urgent inquiry into the actions of the Valuation Office Agency, the government body at the centre of the rates crisis which has dominated the ports sector for more than two years, leading to job losses and cancelled investments, some companies heading into bankruptcy and many others facing technical insolvency.

“We are going to have an inquiry into what went wrong, because it should not have happened and we want to make sure it never happens again,” he told Lloyd’s List. “But our first objective is to get the framework in place to make sure payments are suspended, and to get this sorted quickly.”

Companies that had already paid backdated bills will be reimbursed, he said. The government’s swift action, for which the UK Treasury has set aside £175m ($263.8m), had thrown a lifeline to many companies who were fighting bills often many multiples of their annual turnover and, despite a fierce campaign, could not persuade the Labour government to back down.

Mr Neill said he hoped the action would put the government on a more positive footing with the ports sector. “We are a pro-business government and recognise the importance of ports and port companies,” he said. “We want to treat the port sector with the respect it deserves and give it support.”

He said he was “really sorry” that for some companies the rescue had come too late.