Freeports ‘will unlock billions’ in poor regions
EIGHT special ‘freeports’ that will enjoy low regulation and low tax to make the most of post-Brexit trade were revealed yesterday.
The scheme is expected to increase investment in these areas by making it easier and cheaper for firms to carry out business.
Ministers hope the extra jobs created will also contribute to the ‘levelling up’ agenda to boost areas outside London.
The eight English freeport areas include East Midlands Airport, Felixstowe and Harwich, the Humber, Liverpool, Plymouth, the Solent, the Thames and Teesside.
Companies based in these post-Brexit enterprise zones could be up and running later this year.
They will enjoy tax breaks such as paying no stamp duty, full rebates for construction and machinery investment and five years of zero business rates, as well as lower tariffs and customs obligations.
Rishi Sunak has championed the idea since long before he became Chancellor, writing in a think-tank paper in 2016 that freeports would provide a trade opportunity for the UK once it had left the EU’s customs union.
The policy was in the Conservatives’ 2019 general election manifesto and the bidding process for areas opened last November, with the winners announced yesterday in the Chancellor’s Budget speech. He told the Commons: ‘Freeports are special economic zones with different rules to make it easier and cheaper to do business. Eight new freeports in eight English regions unlocking billions of pounds of private sector investment, generating trade and jobs up and down the country.’
He highlighted Teesside, which will be the biggest freeport, where former industrial sites like steelworks are now being used to make vaccines and wind turbines. ‘I see innovative, fast- growing businesses hiring local people into decent, well-paid, green jobs,’ the Chancellor said.
The Teesside freeport will cover a vast area including the ports of Middlesbrough and Hartlepool as well as the local airport, and it is hoped it will create 32,000 jobs as well as adding £2billion to the local economy.
Conservative mayor for Tees Valley Ben Houchen said: ‘With the largest development site in western Europe, amazing infrastructure, a workforce to be envied and now the UK’s largest freeport, we’ve put the building blocks in place for local people to benefit from the tsunami of jobs and investment that will come to our area in the weeks and months ahead.’
Tim Morris, chief executive of the UK Major Ports Group, said: ‘We very much welcome today’s announcement by the Chancellor of eight locations for next generation freeports in England.’
But he added: ‘Freeports alone are not a silver bullet for addressing deprivation in coastal communities. The Government should look at extending some of the lowcost, pro-investment measures in the freeport “tool box” to port areas more widely.’
‘Benefit from the tsunami of jobs’
‘ This year has been really tough and it’s so upsetting to not feel valued ’