One Teesside MP blamed the failed experiment on "an uncharacteristic lack of ambition by the Thatcher Government" and "the regulatory constraints placed on them by the EU". These free ports experienced limited success during their lifetime and by 2012 Prime Minister David Cameron decided not to renew the free port licences. After winning a second term at the general election Margaret Thatcher's government assigned free port status to six areas namely Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Liverpool, Glasgow Prestwick Airport and Southampton. In their 1983 manifesto, The Challenge of Our Times, the Conservative government outlined its plans to establish 'experimental' free ports as a part of its regional policies to modernise the British economy following the early 1980s recession. They are East Midlands Airport, Felixstowe and Harwich, Humber region, Liverpool City Region, Plymouth, Solent, Thames and Teesside. Several free ports operated throughout the United Kingdom, however by 2012 the Conservative-led government decided not to renew their licences.Īs part of the 2021 United Kingdom budget, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced that eight new free ports would be created. The first free ports in the United Kingdom opened in the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher, as an attempt to combat de-industrialisation and a declining economy. Critics of such schemes, including the parliamentary opposition, see them as possible tax havens and open to money laundering. The theoretical purpose of such free ports is to encourage economic activity in the surrounding area and increase manufacturing. ![]() Free ports in the United Kingdom are a series of government assigned special economic zones where customs rules such as taxes do not apply until goods leave the specified zone.
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