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Professor John Robertson OBA

Headlining for BBC Scotland today:

A landmark agreement will be signed later concluding a five-year planning process to establish a green freeport in the Highlands. Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport (ICFGF) is expected to generate more than 11,000 jobs over the next 25 years.

and:

Scotland’s Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes described the signing as an “exciting milestone” that could bring up to 11,300 jobs to the Highlands. She told the BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme the freeports had been “very carefully designed” around workers rights.

She said UK and Scottish ministers had ensured such sites comply with their Fair Work First policy, external.” Forbes denied suggestions that green freeports were an example of “greenwashing” and said some of the guarantees secured in Scotland, particularly on fair work, were now being rolled out across the UK.

I really hope she’s correct but…..

From the Scottish Government in January 2023:

Opportunity Cromarty Firth and Firth of Forth Green Freeport have been selected jointly by the Scottish Government and UK Government as the locations for Scotland’s first Green Freeports.

Green Freeports are designed to boost innovation and inclusive growth within communities, while supporting Fair Work First practices, creating new green jobs, upholding the highest environmental protections and supporting economic transformation.

Working in partnership with the UK Government, we have adapted the UK Government’s freeport model to develop a sustainable and fair Green Freeport model that fits the Scottish context. https://www.gov.scot/policies/cities-regions/green-ports/

Hmmm….the Greens disagreed.

I’m going to have to break ranks on this too.

The evidence is in:

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:

1. Full report: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8823/
2. 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
3. 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

I’d love to be proved wrong in the years to come.