Finance (No. 2) Bill

Ruth Edwards Excerpts

Committee stage & Committee of the Whole House (Day 1)
Monday 19th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Richard Thomson]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention, but I think my point still stands. No matter what the spirit of truth might be in his remarks about how constraints were placed on the Shannon free zone, there are freeports in the European Union. Freeports are not something that intrinsically require Brexit of itself in order to be able to be pursued. But certainly I hope there are benefits for Scotland from this. I think those benefits can be manifested best perhaps through the greenports approach, which I would like to expand upon.

As I say, the Scottish Government have developed their own version, the greenports, which seeks to embrace all the potential benefits that could come through freeports, while aligning that with ensuring the principles of fair work are enshrined, ensuring that workers within the greenports are paid a real living wage and that the reduction of carbon emissions is embedded at the heart of those developments. A re-elected Scottish National party Government will seek to implement those greenports, making public sector support contingent on businesses complying with that fair work first agenda, paying that real living wage and implementing the Scottish business pledge: our values-led partnership between Government and business based on boosting productivity competitiveness through fairness, equality and sustainable employment, and on delivering on concrete plans to reduce carbon emissions in line with supporting the Scottish Government’s ambition to reach net zero by 2045.

The Scottish Government proposals for these economic development zones already have widespread buy-in from stakeholders, who are desperate to start bidding to run the greenports. It was heartening to hear from the Minister his commitment to seeing freeports in all parts of the UK. Nevertheless, if the people of Scotland choose to re-elect a Scottish National party Government, the Government need to accept the mandate that comes from that and, if there has been an element of heel dragging, to hasten the process of coming to an agreement on the rules around these proposed greenports so that the bidding can begin immediately.

Having taken positive steps to end the race to the bottom on corporate taxation, as we heard in an earlier debate, I think it is important that the UK Government do not allow those who take advantage of freeport status to neglect or otherwise elude their obligations to the workforce, to the environment and to the building of long-term, sustainable value in the regions where they are located and the wider economy.

In the year that the world is coming to Scotland to plan our future at the COP summit, I think it is absolutely fitting that we should be able to develop greenports to demonstrate our ambitions on sustainable, inclusive economic growth as we transition to a net zero economy. A fair, sustainable greenport model can be an exemplar of those values, while adding value to Scottish goods, services and the country’s brand. The UK Government, once the Scottish elections are over, need to get on board with this and back the innovative approach of the Scottish Government model so that we can get the bidding process under way.

[Ruth Edwards (Rushcliffe) (Con) [V]]

The east midlands is one of the regions that was fortunate to benefit from a new freeport in this Budget. Spread across three sites in Leicestershire, Derbyshire and my own constituency of Rushcliffe, we hope to establish a green technology park on the site of one of the UK’s last coal-fired power stations, at Ratcliffe-on-Soar.

Hearing contributions from the Labour party in recent weeks, and from the shadow Minister just now, we would be forgiven for thinking that, with the arrival of a freeport, Rushcliffe will become some sort of wild west, with disputes over stolen art, organised crime activity and tax avoidance settled with a shoot-out in the drinking establishments of Ratcliffe-on-Soar. Quite a picture, but one that ignores the extensive steps the Government have taken to prevent illicit activity, such as background checks for businesses that want to locate in a freeport, including their beneficial owners, and a register of businesses operating in each freeport site, to which HMRC, the National Crime Agency and Border Force will all have access. Successful freeport bids also had to demonstrate their approach to inventory systems, physical security, personnel security, cyber-threats and international regulations.