Sunak’s ‘growth-boosting freeports’ face tidal waves of criticism
When the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto committed the Tories to creating up to ten UK freeports, they were pitched as an innovation that would drive levelling up.
Yet historians have discovered freeports as far back as the 15th century, with the Medicis setting one up in Livorno in the late 16th century. Between 1984 and 2012 Conservative governments set up, and dismantled, seven freeports. This time around, the government hoped they would leave a positive lasting impression. On Tuesday, MPs on the business and trade committee heard evidence from a panel of experts as they tried to unpick whether freeports had delivered on jobs and growth. What was the verdict?
In March 2021 Rishi Sunak, when he was chancellor, announced eight sites in England[1] that