Reeves adopts Tory policy, introducing a new wave of freeports

Rachel Reeves will benefit her first budget adopt key Tory growth policies and unveil a new wave of freeports across the UK.

The Chancellor is expected to agree to the creation of five more low tax zones, which Rishi Sunak hailed as a “Brexit benefit”.

He will also announce that he is going ahead with Conservative plans to create a new investment zone in the East Midlands.

There they are 12 freeports already in England, Scotland and Wales, which the Tories presented to take advantage of Brexit.

Sir Keir Starmer said the decision to create more freeports showed Labor would not be “ideological” in pursuing its key mission of boosting growth.

“Mission Number One”

The Prime Minister said: “Economic growth is this government’s number one mission, measured by rising living standards and improved well-being of people in well-paid jobs in every part of the UK.

“Targeted programs that attract investment and generate jobs and economic growth for local people, underpinned by our industrial strategy and the economic stability my Government is delivering, will supercharge the potential of areas across the country.

“I have always said that I will look at everything that will bring working people without an ideological perspective. So yes, freeports were the blueprint we inherited, but combined with Labor’s laser focus on grassroots-generated growth, we will maximize their potential.

“My government is changing how and where we generate growth to secure investment and create good jobs for working people.”

Ms Reeves is expected to announce the locations of the five new sites in the Budget.

Post-Brexit vision

Freeports have played a key role in Boris Johnson’s post-Brexit vision of boosting international investment in the UK.

Companies based in their area can operate under simplified customs and planning regulations and benefit from certain tax reliefs.

The idea is that large companies can import goods into the Freeport area, process them there, and then export them to the rest of the world.

According to the government, Britain’s freeports have so far attracted £2.9 billion of investment and created around 6,000 jobs.

Critics of the programs argue that instead of creating new growth, they simply relocate existing wealth and jobs across the country.

Northern Ireland is the only area of ​​the UK without a free port, partly because it is still part of the EU single market.

While free ports are allowed within the bloc, they have faced increasing restrictions in recent years amid concerns they could be used for money laundering.