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 is likely to be taken up across the country, with Belfast, Milford Haven and Thames Gateway said to be interested in the concept.
It was also previously reported that Boris Johnson was considering giving Aberdeen or Peterhead free port status.
Miles Briggs, Tory MP for the Lothians, recently said he had written to Forth Ports to ask its position on seeking free port status for Leith in Edinburgh.
The UK has previously been home to several free ports, including Liverpool, Southampton, the Port of Tilbury and Glasgow Prestwick Airport.
There was a total of seven free ports between 1984 and 2012, when the UK legislation that established their use was not renewed. 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 by the private sector.
Although HS2 now looks set to get the go ahead this week, Mr Johnson has ordered action to try to contain costs, which look set to top £100billion. This will include a review of the ‘northern section’ which is due to 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.
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 of England. Andy Street, Tory mayor of the West Midlands, yesterday denied reports he had threatened to resign if the project was axed.
Manchester’s Labour mayor Andy Burnham yesterday proposed a ‘compromise’ in which the so-called ‘Northern Powerhouse Rail’ project linking Liverpool to Manchester and Leeds begins before HS2’s northern section.
Comment – Page 16
‘Regenerating communities’