UK freeports: can these 'enterprise zones' meet the competitive challenge?

The UK government has opened a bidding process for the creation of up to 10 new freeports, promising they are a simple way to “turbo-charge” the economy, especially in deprived areas.

However, far from being a magic wand, the reality is somewhat more challenging.

The country has had freeports before, but those – established in the 1980s and 1990s in ports like Liverpool and Tilbury – eventually withered and died.

All they could offer was freedom from customs duties, and this was not ...