Murphy in London to lobby for exemption to proposed HGV levy | Latest Newry News, Newry Sport and Newry Business for Newry City

Murphy in London to lobby for exemption to proposed HGV levy

Sinn Féin MP Conor Murphy will be in Westminster this week to lobby politicians to support an Exemption for the North of Ireland from the impending imposition by the British government of a levy on heavy goods vehicles (HGV’s) which he insists will be ‘detrimental to our expanding cross border trade’.

Speaking as he left for London, Conor Murphy said, “Under new legislation being introduced from Westminster, all HGVs crossing the border into the North from this April will be liable to pay up £10 a day levy.

“As a representative from the border region I know the potential damage this will cause. The imposition of this levy would have a detrimental effect on the expanding cross border trade which currently generates £2.3bn for this island and could dissuade investment in northern operations by southern based parent companies.

“This could have a particularly negative impact on the agri-food sector – our fastest growing sector. I will be meeting with British Secretary of State Theresa Villiers and Shadow SoS Ivan Lewis, among others, and I will be making clear that this unhelpful proposal from Westminster is another example of the need for the transfer of fiscal powers to the north,” he continued.

“Sinn Féin has been vocal in its opposition to this levy, and our representatives north and south have been to the forefront in highlighting the issue in every elected forum.

Murphy added, “The British government needs to amend the legislation to exempt the north from this regressive charge and the Irish government must ensure that they pressurise their British counterparts to stop this charge which has the potential to severely affect the future viability of small and medium businesses especially along the already struggling border region.”

Short URL: https://newrytimes.com/?p=39704

Posted by on Feb 26 2014. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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