Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government where are the freeports in (1) England, (2) Wales, and (3) Scotland; and whether they intend to establish a freeport in Northern Ireland.

In March 2021, the Chancellor announced 8 locations as winners of the English Freeports competition: East Midlands Airport, Felixstowe & Harwich (Freeport East), Humber, Liverpool City Region, Plymouth & South Devon, Solent, Teesside, and Thames. Subsequently, Freeports have been working with government to develop business cases and secure the necessary designations in law. Tax sites have now been designated in all English Freeports and customs sites have been designated in Teesside, Thames and, more recently, Solent Freeports.

The UK government is investing £52 million to bring two Green Freeports to Scotland. Bidding has now closed, and we are working jointly with the Scottish Government to jointly assess bids to ensure they meet our shared goals, ahead of announcing winners later in the autumn.

A Welsh Freeport will be backed by £26 million in UK Government funding. The prospectus was published 01 September and it expected that the successful Freeport location will be announced later this year.

We are committed to extending the Freeports programme to Northern Ireland as soon as possible.