Chancellor Rishi Sunak gave the go-ahead for an East Midlands Freeport in his Spring Budget.
Taking in three sites around East Midlands Airport, Ratcliffe on Soar power station, and the 5.2 million sq ft East Midlands Intermodal Park near the Toyota plant in Derbyshire, it will give businesses a secure customs zone along with looser planning and tax rules.
The Chancellor has backed the idea from the start, but not everyone is as convinced.
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Some are concerned that they stop taxes going into the Treasury which would support public services, and might only benefit already rich companies.
Scott Gallacher is a director of Rowley Turton, an independent wealth manager, in Leicester. Here are his thoughts on the subject:
“One of the Chancellor’s big ideas from his Spring Budget was the introduction of eight new freeports in England.
Freeports, which are typically located around airports or ports, are areas where businesses benefit from more generous tax reliefs, simplified customs procedures, and wider government support.
Specifically, businesses in these tax sites will be able to benefit from:
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• An enhanced 10 per cent rate of Structures and Buildings Allowance. This means firms’ investments will be fully tax relieved after 10 years;
• An enhanced capital allowance of 100 per cent for companies investing in plant and machinery until September 30, 2026;
• Full relief from Stamp Duty Land Tax on the purchase of land or property until September 30, 2026;
• Full Business Rates relief until September 30, 2026;
• Employer National Insurance contributions relief available for eligible employees until at least April 2026.
The government hopes that these freeports will bring investment, trade and jobs which will regenerate regions across the country that need it most. They are part of the government’s Brexit dividend.
With one of the freeports being East Midlands Airport, this could be a boost for the region’s manufacturing and perhaps create jobs – as well as helping regional employers (Jaguar Landrover, Toyota, Rolls Royce, etc), deal with customs issues that might arise post-Brexit.
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However, it’s important to bear in mind that in politics, as in most things in life, genuinely new ideas are rare. Freeports are not a new concept at all – between 1984 and 2012 the 海角视频 had seven freeports until the government decided not to continue with them.
One of the reasons they were scrapped might have been that freeports were found to be a useful tool for tax evaders, money launders, criminals, and terrorists – not the types of people we want to be attracting to our region.
In addition, some experts argue that freeports actually create relatively few new jobs – and that when they do, they’re of lower quality and not really ‘new’ jobs anyway but simply relocated from elsewhere.
But all that said, if we are going to have freeports in the 海角视频 then it is probably better that they are in our own area relocating jobs to us, rather than elsewhere, taking jobs away.
As a Leicestershire-based businessman, I obviously welcome any initiative that might benefit our local economy, so, hopefully this announcement will be good news for Leicestershire.”