Teesside Free Port

The theory of a freeport is that goods can come into the port area be process into something of higher value and not be subject to import taxes and as much paperwork. The Freeport status for the Tees area is more than a standard freeport status as it includes for example exemption from employer national insurance making it cheaper to employ staff. The free port area extends beyond the river Tees and old port areas for example the new area includes around Teesside Airport and former ICI Wilton site.

The free port is just one measure to try and support the Tees region which is clearly suffering economically from deindustralisation. Resources in the area are underutilised (particularly land and people) and this neither helps the local population or the national population.

I don't defend everything that has occured in the last 8 years, but faced with the closure and SSI Redcar and its suppliers, economic support and regeneration was desperately required for the South Tees area.
 
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I see Sunak keeps on telling the world about Tees Freeport. It's like the emperors new coats to me. All fur and no knickers. How does Tommy Teessider actually benefit ? Jobs, services. increased wages.
 
Defender 4x4 said:
I see Sunak keeps on telling the world about Tees Freeport. It's like the emperors new coats to me. All fur and no knickers. How does Tommy Teessider actually benefit ? Jobs, services. increased wages.
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It's a Tory thing, if you think they give a toss about Tommy Teessider you're living in cloud cuckoo land.

We've already seen what it's all about. Raping the area for the benefit of very few.
 
Where are AV Dawsons in this equation , they own 75 % of the wharfeage area on this river .....surely they would be kicking a fuss?
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
It's a Tory thing, if you think they give a toss about Tommy Teessider you're living in cloud cuckoo land.

We've already seen what it's all about. Raping the area for the benefit of very few.
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I'm not living in cloud cuckoo land. I just fail to see what Teessides get out of our Free Port.
 
Employer national insurance is paid on the cost of wages of employees, it initially reduces the tax collected by the State, but if that employee pays income tax and previously did not, the total tax collected increases for the State.

Without Government subsidies there would not have been any ICI Wilton set up on a greenfield site after WW2. The development created a lot of job for Teessiders in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and 80s as well as profits for ICI shareholders. I don't know how many new jobs the freeport status will create and that is an unknown at present. To me it needs to be part of a wide range of support and incentives to create more employment opportunities for the region in the style that Biden has done in former industrial areas of the USA.

Free ports existed in the UK well before 2017 and under Labour and Conservative Governements. One of the most successful ports in Europe is a freeport (Rotterdam).
 
Redwurzel said:
Employer national insurance is paid on the cost of wages of employees, it initially reduces the tax collected by the State, but if that employee pays income tax and previously did not, the total tax collected increases for the State
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It’s still subsidising the rich. There is no guarantee that the overall number of jobs increases as this will deprive other businesses of skilled workers making them less successful and thus employing less people.
 
Redwurzel said:
I don't know how many new jobs the freeport status will create and that is an unknown at present.
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Its going to be millions. Lord Bent has said so many times and this has been corroborated by Sir Simon Stilt and Jacob Lemontop, so it must be right.

There are rumours that there are so many jobs coming that the Government will soon start deporting illegal immigrants to Redcar and South Bank instead of Rwanda, just to take all the jobs expected.
 
Redwurzel said:
Employer national insurance is paid on the cost of wages of employees, it initially reduces the tax collected by the State, but if that employee pays income tax and previously did not, the total tax collected increases for the State.

Without Government subsidies there would not have been any ICI Wilton set up on a greenfield site after WW2. The development created a lot of job for Teessiders in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and 80s as well as profits for ICI shareholders. I don't know how many new jobs the freeport status will create and that is an unknown at present. To me it needs to be part of a wide range of support and incentives to create more employment opportunities for the region in the style that Biden has done in former industrial areas of the USA.

Free ports existed in the UK well before 2017 and under Labour and Conservative Governements. One of the most successful ports in Europe is a freeport (Rotterdam).
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I dont think there are any NI exemptions for free ports. Believe the only real, meaningful difference is some business rate deductions.
 
thewanderer said:
I dont think there are any NI exemptions for free ports. Believe the only real, meaningful difference is some business rate deductions.
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There are NI exemptions in uk freeports. It is these tax benefits and subsidies that are key difference between old style freeports such as ones in the EU. In a way they are more like old skool enterprise zones than free ports.
 
motownjunk said:
There are NI exemptions in uk freeports. It is these tax benefits and subsidies that are key difference between old style freeports such as ones in the EU. In a way they are more like old skool enterprise zones than free ports.
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So depriving the local council of much needed income, at a time when the council is close to bust. All for the benefit of a handful of multi-millionaire business owners, while effectively stripping the council of valuable land it could have used to generate income in the future.
 
BoroMart - National Insurance is collected by HMRC and goes into Central Government funds. I don't agree with how much power and resources reside in Whitehall and Westminster, but thats how it is at present.

If more people live on Teesside and spend money on Teesside, it will indirectly help local Governments on Teesside

The Teesside Freeport Zone opened in November 2021.

The BBC have produced an article about Freeports in general - linked.

www.bbc.co.uk

What are freeports and will they help the economy?

Two freeports have been named in Wales, joining eight sites in England and two in Scotland.
www.bbc.co.uk

I don't think the BBC have a political agenda i.e they are a balanced source of information.

I do think a lot more could be done to help economic levelling up of the UK regions, especially away from the major metropolitan areas for example reform of business rates, possible reductions in centrally collected taxes for economicaly depressed regions e.g. lower rates of Income Tax and VAT, subsidies on new projects. Rebalancing the UK economy is more healthy for the whole of the UK population.
 
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