The leisure industry has welcomed a move by Alistair Darling, The Chancellor of the Exchequer, to introduce a series of measures to support businesses affected by the recent severe flooding.

Legislation due to be launched in next year’s Finance Bill has been extradited so that HM Revenue and Customs can waive interest and surcharges on tax paid late due to the floods.

Financial secretary to the Treasury and minister for HMRC, Jane Kennedy, said: “I want to ensure that people affected by the flooding do not have to worry about tax or their tax credit award at this difficult time.

“Where businesses are affected by the flooding, I would ask them to get in touch for practical help.”

The measures include deferring the collection of taxes and duties or agreeing instalment arrangements; waiving interest, surcharges and penalties for the deferment period; introducing practical arrangements where businesses have lost records in the flooding and suspending debt collection proceedings.

The legislation follows an appeal made by the British Hospitality Association (BHA) earlier this week, asking the government to support the hospitality sector during the flood crisis.

BHA chair Bob Cotton asked that National Insurance, VAT charges and business rates be suspended for six months in order to give businesses affected by the flooding time to recover.