Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have visited the North East of England to talk up their freeports’ scheme on the day after this year’s Budget.
The Prime Minister and Chancellor visited Teesport in Middlesbrough, which will become the country’s largest freeport.
In his Budget, Mr Sunak also announced that the Treasury will set up a northern campus in Darlington, dubbed Treasury North, which will see 750 jobs relocated from the capital.
A total of eight freeport areas were announced in the Budget, but there was disappointment for many areas, including the North East, which had bid for the scheme.
Politicians and business leaders in the North East have hit out after the Tees Valley received a number of economic boosts shortly before its May mayoral election while there was little in the Budget for Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and County Durham.
On Teesside, Mr Sunak said: “It will be genuinely transformational and the good news is we are already getting calls. There’s already companies who have seen the announcements that we made yesterday and they think it’s interesting.
“The combination with the freeport and the super deduction, huge tax incentives for businesses to invest, I think is going to unlock tons of economic activity and is going to create great local jobs, new green jobs, as the PM said in growth industries in Teesside.”
He added: “Freeports have been used around the world to create jobs. In the US half a million people are employed in over 200 free trade zones.
“They work internationally, we haven’t been able to do them in the way we want to fully until we’ve left the EU.
“We’re turbo charging them with really attractive incentives for businesses to make things easier for them to import and export, to invest in new equipment and also to employ people. We believe that is going to lead to great local jobs.”
Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak were hosted by PD Ports’ CEO Frans Calje.
He said: “It has been a privilege to welcome the Prime Minister and the Chancellor to Teesport today at the beginning of a new chapter in our region’s renaissance. We are immensely grateful for the opportunity that the Government has given us in awarding freeport status and look forward to continuing to work closely with the Government to maximise the benefits this will bring.
“Freeport status will enable PD Ports to build on our successful track record of attracting new investment and creating new jobs across the region, with more people now employed by PD Ports than before the devastating closure of the SSI Steel Plant in 2015.
“Alongside other new developments planned by PD Ports, including the £185m Northern Gateway Container Terminal, freeport status is another major step towards achieving our ambition to make the River Tees the UK’s most successful port region by 2050.
“The River Tees is a national asset that has huge potential to drive global trade and exports, level-up our economy and lead the fight against climate change. Our new freeport will help us unleash that potential and deliver the prosperity this region deserves.”
