Teesside freeport due to be biggest and first to open

One of eight freeports announced by the government has been officially launched.

The Teesside Freeport is due to begin operating next month.

Billed as the UK's biggest, its trade zones will include Teesworks, Wilton Engineering, Liberty Steel, Teesside Airport, LV Shipping, Teesport and the ports of Middlesbrough and Hartlepool.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said it would add more than £3bn to the economy once fully developed.

"This is the thing we can build upon to make sure we're part of that green industrial revolution," he said.

The zone would bring "better wages for local people" and create 18,000 new jobs over the next five years, the mayor claimed.

Freeports allow goods to be imported without tariffs, excise duties and other taxes being paid before materials are shipped on again.

However, tariffs may be payable on finished products when they reach their destination. 

Officials at Tees Valley Combined Authority said the freeport would drive billions of pounds into the region's economy by encouraging long-term investment and trade, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

However, concerns have been raised that, rather than creating genuinely new opportunities, freeports merely transfer economic activity from one location to another.

In its October fiscal outlook report, the Office for Budget Responsibility said: "Given historical and international evidence, we have assumed that the main effect of the freeports will be to alter the location rather than the volume of economic activity."

Middlesbrough Labour MP Andy McDonald said last week the freeport would have failed "if it doesn't deliver secure, unionised, well-paid jobs and feeds into the direct economy of the Tees Valley".

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