Caroline Spelman has promised to scupper new retrospective taxes being imposed on companies in ports across England and Wales.
The proposed 'ports tax' comes as new documents from the Insolvency Service show that firms could be forced into insolvency as a result of massive backdated tax bills from Labour.
Caroline, the Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, stressed the damage the ports tax could do to businesses across the country:
"Local firms are already struggling to make ends meet thanks to the recession. These unfair, retrospective taxes from Gordon Brown's tax inspectors could be the last straw."
And she pledged our opposition to the plans, adding:
"This whole affair has exposed systematic failure at the heart of Government. The retrospective taxes break the Government's own rules, there was no impact assessment, no consideration of the harmful effect on the wider economy and inadequate warning."
The Conservatives will be tabling amendments in Parliament to change the law and stop these retrospective tax changes.