Finance (No. 2) Bill

Virginia Crosbie Excerpts

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

[Ben Bradley (Mansfield) (Con) [V]]

I wish to speak in support of the new clauses and amendments listed earlier by the Minister and in support of the plans to deliver freeports, and the benefits they can bring, across the United Kingdom. This Finance Bill is vital for our recovery plans in the coming months and years. Freeports are intended to be national hubs for global trade and investment across the UK, and to promote regeneration and job creation as part of our levelling-up agenda. Post-Brexit Britain stands to benefit hugely from being able to compete more effectively in a global market and to offer UK-based businesses the chance to take full advantage of new trading opportunities, to expand and to innovate within the UK.

As a Nottinghamshire MP, I want to refer specifically to the freeport based around East Midlands airport, in conjunction with local plans for a development corporation at the Ratcliffe power station, which is shortly to be decommissioned and the site put to this new use. Taken together, these proposals present a huge opportunity for bringing investment and employment to our region and to my Mansfield constituency. The site at East Midlands airport has a unique mix of logistics and transport connections, with an inter-modal hub bringing together air freight with major road and rail arteries right in the centre of the UK.

This is a chance for the east midlands and this unique inland freeport model at the UK’s largest pure cargo airport to take full advantage of the Government’s agenda for growth through a green recovery—we hope that green energy can form a big part of the east midlands’ future—and through new technical skills. It can play a key part in our levelling-up agenda and, as my hon. Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Ruth Edwards) explained, it can help us keep talented people working in our constituencies in the east midlands instead of feeling that they have to disappear to the major cities to find opportunities. The partnership between Nottingham Trent University and West Nottinghamshire College in my constituency can support this development with skills development while equally benefiting from it themselves.

As the Minister explained, clauses 109 to 111 give the Government the ability to designate sites and offer tax incentives and reliefs at those sites. The sites are fairly and openly assessed, and across the east midlands my colleagues and I are delighted that our area has been successful. We estimate that these plans could bring up to 60,000 jobs to the region over the coming years, and my constituents stand to benefit from that in a big way. We are most grateful to the local authorities, the local enterprise partnerships and the businesses involved in putting the bid together. I ask the Minister to ensure that as much support as possible is available for our region to be able to put together the best possible business case, with advice and support from the Government and from his Department during the next phase.

It is telling that, before the freeports have even been set up, Labour’s amendments are already seeking to restrict and limit the benefits for businesses that invest in these sites, thereby limiting the potential for growth and job creation for my constituents. The point of these sites is to encourage innovation and investment, but it is typical of Labour Members to put ideology before jobs and livelihoods in working-class communities. They would rather fight for more power for their trade union bosses than for more wealth creation for our region and jobs for my constituents. In fact, it sounded a lot like the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Erith and Thamesmead (Abena Oppong-Asare), did not really want to see this investment happen at all, despite offering no other suggestions for how Labour would regenerate these communities. The right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell), despite all his experience in this place, still has not worked out that it is businesses that create jobs, and that helping business is not an end in itself but a means by which to create more of the jobs that are so vital for areas such as mine that have needed them for a long time, and for our economic recovery after covid. Maybe he will get it one day, but I doubt it.

I support the Minister and the Government’s approach to delivering the new freeports. I am grateful that they have chosen the east midlands as one of the sites, with its unique location right at the heart of the country and all the potential that that brings for our region, and I will be supporting the Bill in its entirety.

[Virginia Crosbie (Ynys Môn) (Con)]

This Finance Bill gives us the freedom to look at freeports around the world and to propose innovative and exciting new possibilities for the UK. Last year I set up the Anglesey freeport bidding consortium, which includes Stena, Anglesey County Council, Bangor University and the North Wales Economic Ambition Board. We have approached our bid by asking the question: what problems could a freeport on Anglesey solve? By looking at the problems, we are building a freeport model that will offer benefits not just locally but globally.

Our first problem is local. After almost two decades of disinvestment under the Welsh Labour Government, Ynys Môn’s gross value added is now among the lowest in the UK. With large employers such as Anglesey Aluminium and Rehau closing down, it is highly dependent on seasonal tourism. Our island haemorrhages young people every year because there are no quality jobs for them locally. What better place for the Government to use their freeport model to create jobs and opportunity? How better to show levelling up at its most effective?

Our second problem is national. Brexit has impacted the flow of trade across the central corridor from Holyhead to Dublin. A collaboration between a freeport in Northern Ireland and a freeport on Anglesey would create a virtual special economic zone corridor and significantly improve the customs and trade route between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Our third problem is global. How will we hit our 2050 net zero carbon target, as energy island Anglesey is already leading the way in green energy: we have on and offshore wind farms, tidal energy, solar farms and we are about to establish a hydrogen production plant in Holyhead. We also have the best nuclear site in the UK—Wylfa Newydd. The UK needs innovative solutions, large-scale infrastructure and significant investment to achieve its 2050 target. The exemptions, tax and tariffs incentives, customs facilities and regulatory easements available to freeports would make Anglesey a global, sustainable energy investment base of choice.

Our final problem is that of re-establishing the UK’s place on a global stage outside of the EU. The competition for global capital is fierce and UK freeports are in competition with those all over the world. Ambitious and forward-looking proposals such as ours will future-proof the UK’s position as a world player. By holistically applying the levers available, the freeport of Anglesey could become the jewel in the UK’s crown.

[Ian Paisley (North Antrim) (DUP)]

I thank the hon. Member for giving way. I did not want to cut her off in mid-flow; she is making a brilliant speech. I hope that, when the Government respond to the points being made tonight, they will take the opportunity—I agree absolutely with what she has just said about Anglesey—to affirm that Northern Ireland will be entitled to a freeport and that it will not be blocked because of the arrangements that we have with the protocol and the EU.

[Virginia Crosbie]

I thank the hon. Gentleman.

Unfortunately, despite all the good reasons I have for bringing a freeport to Anglesey, the Welsh bidding process has not yet started. The Welsh First Minister has cited concerns about economic displacement, but my biggest concern is the economic displacement that will occur when trade that could have come to Anglesey goes instead to one of the eight English freeports announced in the Chancellor’s Budget. Ports such as Liverpool are already six months ahead of us in this process.

I absolutely support the Finance Bill and the opportunities that it gives the UK now that we are free from the shackles of Europe. I look forward to seeing Anglesey become a freeport, attracting new investment and creating the good, quality jobs that the island so desperately needs and deserves.

[Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger (Bridgwater and West Somerset) (Con) [V]]

I am absolutely delighted to take part in this debate and also to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Ynys Môn (Virginia Crosbie). We share a nuclear power station. I look forward to the fantastic day that we build at Wylfa.

I must say that the Chancellor has done a remarkable job in supporting the economy during this pandemic. He has also kickstarted the economy without a shadow of a doubt. Economic regeneration and regional economic regeneration does have to come with various—dare I say it?—caveats. I advise extreme caution when shelling out any extra cash to Somerset County Council. I would not spend a penny on it. Somerset County Council is incompetent, profligate and, worst of all, unbelievably pompous. It has failed to get broadband working. It has signed contracts that it does not understand, which has cost the tax payers millions of pounds. It adds absolutely nothing to the development of the local economy, except, unfortunately, hot air. Oh yes, Somerset County Council loves to claim credit for everything, but that is either exaggeration or lies.

Somerset is run dishonestly and it does not deserve to be taken seriously. My constituency has the biggest infrastructure project in the whole of Europe. Hinkley Point C nuclear power station is taking shape. Who masterminded this local planning? Who carried the burden? It was Sedgemoor District Council. Sedgemoor is one of the four districts that Somerset wants to gobble up in its greedy ambition to become a unitary authority. Why? It is because the district councils do not squander public money. They save it and have shown that they do so year after year. What does Somerset County Council bring to the party? They bring nothing but trouble and, I am afraid, waste. It pleads poverty, and begs for more, but it does not deserve a bean.

Across the country, our secondary school head teachers are furious with the council for ordering extra cuts that will hurt the most vulnerable children in our society who desperately need all our help. The heads have no confidence in the overpaid oaf in charge of Somerset schools. I do not think that I have confidence in any of them in the council, and I am not sure that I ever had. The staff of Chief Executive Pat Flaherty call him “flat battery”, which is a little worrying. He actually could not start a Dinky toy, let alone regenerate the economy.

Most people say the council is a waste of space and money—this has been going right across Somerset for the past few months. The public is not being fairly consulted about the unitary dream, which is, I am afraid, a scandal that lies at the door of the Secretary of State of Housing, Communities and Local Government. This is at the heart of the problem. The county chose to bid for change, just as the pandemic started. It is crazy timing. Why the rush? It should have waited. People have suffered because of this, but the Government danced to its tune and postponed the county elections, which were meant to take place next month, depriving the voters of a democratic say. I worry about the state that we are in.