Speaking on The Sunday Show on BBC Radio Scotland, Mr Houchen, the mayor of Tees Valley, said he believed Scotland was “missing a trick”.
He said: “We have attracted investors who were originally looking at Scotland when some areas in Scotland were looking at freeport status, and when they decided not to move forward with the current UK freeport policy (they) have actually abandoned Scotland.
“At least three investors who are, in the next six months, publicly going to announce in Teesside, would have gone to Scotland.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-59720730
In one of their more dramatic attempts to damage their immediate surroundings, BBC Scotland fail to research and, certainly fail to inform us, that freeports are not good, not good at all. See this:
There is clear evidence in a House of Commons Briefing Paper that freeports simply transfer business away from other areas and, according to the Royal United Services Institute, ‘encourage drug trafficking, trade in counterfeits, money laundering and a vast array of other crimes.
Middlesbrough in Tees Valley already has the second highest crime rate in England (110 per 100K) just above that of neighbouring Cleveland (115 per 100K). The crime rate in Glasgow, Scotland’s highest, is 68 per 100K.
Backup evidence:
- Full report: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8823/
- Additional evidence from Institute for Government on economic factors: There is also a risk that freeports and zones don’t create new economic activity but rather divert existing business into the area with the allure of tax breaks – at a cost to the taxpayer in the form of lost revenue. https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/trade-freeports-free-zones
- Additional evidence from Royal United Services Institute: The misuse of freeports in other countries for drug trafficking, trade in counterfeits, money laundering and a vast array of other crimes has drawn the attention of key international stakeholders, including the Financial Action Task Force, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Customs Organization. The European Parliament has gone so far as to call for the abolition of freeports in the EU. https://rusi.org/publication/briefing-papers/free-ports-not-safe-havens-preventing-crime-uks-future-freeports
Talking-up Scotland / Scottish media fact checking is like shooting fish in a barrel 
Exactly.
Who are these “investors”?
The Russian mafia and the triads?
All that this is doing is expanding the global tax avoiding network centred in London
for the benefit of the mega rich.
More trickle down b/s for the plebs.
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Good article. I had a debate with an irate supporter of the Union about this last month. Wish I had had this summary handy. All this proves that the Scottish BBC branch office is being managed by dark forces to mislead us all. How people can stand it there on the news team I do not know. Do they have no moral compass or self respect.
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All the BBC Scotland editors are interested in is presenting something, with little context, which purports to show “Scotland bad”. It is also revealing of their mindset – that the ‘free market’ concept is axiomatically “good”. It is part of the ‘buccaneering capitalist’ as a dashing Errol Flynn Hollywood character.
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The type of Free ports Westminster are Advocating are of the type that are fit only for
3rd World Nations
Failing States
Begging Nations
Dictatorships
Spivs
Gangsters
Gun Runners
And most certainly not for a highly educated,trained, high productivity
Economy which has identified economic open goal mouths in order to carve out
A lucrative niche in particular areas where if developed correctly will greatly enhance the society that does so
Tis a Paddy,s market that they propose
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The UQ version of freeports would be a disaster to any local economy not a boon, Houchen is playing “the SNP have failed” political game which explains why the BBC would interview him, but he has seriously lost the plot if he believes investors have an interest other than THEIR profit, not the local economy.
For sure there will be investors queuing up to take HMG money in their creation, but once it’s built and functioning, what does a Freeport actually generate by way of local wealth ? All evidence suggests it degrades it.
Little surprise EU Parliamentarians want to see them discontinued, hence it’s not difficult to fathom why the Brexiteers would then champion them.
There could be trillions in value passing through a freeport, yet Houchen seems oblivious to the fact not a fraction of a percent will benefit his populace.
A Freeport is a legal entity, almost a country within a country, however the UQ version means none of the normal protections afforded outside the fence need not apply within – Employment protection laws, working hours, HASAWA, etc..
Houchen is going to have to answer serious questions once this abomination is finalised, but by then there will some new shiny objects to dangle in front of the Indians to deflect from having been robbed.
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I think ‘trick’ is the operative word here. The NE of England have been tricked alright, usually they get some sweeties and a vanity project to keep the worker bees happy and non worker bees very unhappy and committing crimes, and their councils are all quite happy with the poverty and crime related to long term austerity and neglect by their English government. My dad in his latter years used to say that Gateshead was like ‘bloody beirut’ because it was a shambolic, run down neglected town/area/region. He couldn’t understand why people accepted it. Things are still the same, by the sounds of it. Is ScotGov rejecting ‘free ports’? Are they allowed to do?
Scotland has much more positive investment going on.
SCOTTISH port not UK, but here are a couple of articles in case people have not seen this yet.
https://www.offshore-energy.biz/uk-port-set-for-revival-with-plans-to-recycle-old-rigs-into-foundations-for-floating-wind-farms/
https://www.offshore-energy.biz/ship-recycling-goes-to-scotland-with-inchgreen-dry-dock-reactivation/
Maybe the ‘mayor’ of Tees valley has ‘missed a trick’. I wonder how much he takes from the public purse while people in his region of England are no doubt unable to afford the basics. Weren’t people tricked into voting Tory there in 2019?
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