Boris’s new industrial revolution
As PM pledges biggest transport and trade push since Victorian era, it’s...
BORIS Johnson will pave the way for the biggest infrastructure revolution ‘since the Victorians’ this week by giving the green light to HS2 and backing new ‘free ports’.
Ministers are expected to finally give the go-ahead to the troubled HS2 rail line after months of wrangling, despite estimated costs trebling to more than £100billion. A decision could come as early as tomorrow.
Last night the Prime Minister announced he would also fast-track plans to create ten ‘free ports’ across the UK aimed at driving investment after Britain leaves the EU.
This designation would slash tariffs and encourage industry to locate to port areas.
The PM is also said to be pressing ahead with a feasibility study for a £20billion road bridge linking Scotland to Northern Ireland, which critics have said is impossible.
One government source said: ‘The PM wants to see an infrastructure revolution. There will be more to come at the Budget, but taken together we are talking about the biggest upgrading of the country’s infrastructure since the Victorians.’
The idea of free ports has been championed by Tories in the North East, where Teesside and Port of Tyne are hoping to be designated.
But the idea is likely to be taken up across the country, with ports including Belfast, Milford Haven and Thames Gateway said to be interested in the concept.
Treasury Chief Secretary Rishi Sunak said the new free ports would ‘unleash the potential in our proud historic ports, boosting and regenerating communities across the UK’.
Trade Secretary Liz Truss said the initiative was part of the Government ‘taking back control of our trade policy and opening every corner of the UK to opportunities across the world’. Ministers will now consult on how the free ports will operate.
Under one proposal, goods arriving in a free port would not attract tariffs until they enter the domestic market, with no duty payable if the item is re- exported. Raw materials may not face tariffs until they are made into final goods.
Customs and planning constraints would also be simplified, and ministers have pledged tax breaks to improve infrastructure.
Ministers are also considering copying the US system of ‘freedom zones’ where capital gains tax is deferred on new development in order to encourage investment link Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds.
In the meantime, the first phase, linking London to Birmingham, will go ahead despite fresh warnings about value for money. A Department for Transport study has revealed trains will hit their top speed of 225mph for barely half of the 134-mile route from London to Birmingham.
But the project has become a political imperative for Mr Johnson, who won his landslide election victory on the back of pledges to improve creaking infrastructure in the Midlands and the North.
Andy Street, Tory mayor of the West Midlands, yesterday denied reports that he had threatened to resign if the project was axed.
Manchester’s Labour mayor, Andy Burnham, yesterday proposed a ‘compromise’ in which the ‘ Northern Powerhouse Rail’ il’ project linking Liverpool to Manchester and Leeds begins before HS2’s northern section.
Mr Burnham told Sky News: ‘There is room for a compromise here and maybe it’s about taking the team who are working on HS2 north of Birmingham off that project and putting them on Northern Powerhouse Rail.
‘If they build the east-west line – the Northern Powerhouse Rail – early, in time they could then build HS2 from the North down to meet up in Birmingham and that feels to me the right solution.’
‘Regenerating communities’