Freeport

Freeports and SEZs  (globalisation,  tax havens)
"Freeports represent a significant threat to the well-being of Britain" (Richard Murphy, tax expert and political economist)

Freeports and special economic zones (SEZs) are free trade zones that are designated areas where the normal tax and tariff rules of the country in which they are based do not apply.

Freeports are privately owned, whereas a port is publicly owned. Ports are traditionally used for container freight transhipment operations. Freight comes into a port area, and it is stored and/or processed before being re-exported. However, a freeport can also be a warehouse, an inland location, or an airport.

Freeports carve out sections of the country by establishing a border around them. Within that border, companies have exceptional legal status, distinct from the rules and regulations applied to their surroundings.

Freeports and SEZs are variations on the same theme: deregulation, privatisation, tax evasion, and corporate governance.

Freeports and SEZs are complex entities. Complexity is their camouflage, which has to be understood because they are carving up the UK into regions where corporations are protected from parliamentary and public scrutiny under secondary legislation.

UK free trade zones

In August 2019 the UK government announced it was planning to create up to 10 freeports across the UK after Brexit. Until 2012, the UK had seven freeports (including Liverpool, Southampton, the Port of Tilbury, the Port of Sheerness and Prestwick Airport) and Prime Minister Boris Johnson believed they could create jobs in "left-behind areas". International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said the move would create "thousands of jobs":

"Freeports transformed London's Docklands in the 1980s, and freeports will do the same for towns and cities across the UK."

In July 2023, the Centre for Local Economies published "Future freeports", a report covering three UK freeport locations exploring how local, combined and devolved authorities and the government can utilise, design and deliver freeports that mitigate against wealth extraction and contribute toward a more inclusive and sustainable economy.

12 UK freeports

All 12 UK freeports are housed inside a SEZ, which varies in size from 38 to 75km in diameter:

• Anglesey Freeport
• Celtic Freeport
• East Midlands Freeport
• Freeport East
• Forth Green Freeport
• Humber Freeport
• Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport
• Liverpool City Region Freeport
• Plymouth and South Devon Freeport
• Solent Freeport
• Teesside Freeport
• Thames Freeport

Labour said the move involved no new investment and could attract money launderers and tax dodgers. Shadow International Trade Secretary Barry Gardiner said the planned UK freeports did not constitute new investment:

"It is a race to the bottom that will have money launderers and tax dodgers rubbing their hands with glee. Freeports and SEZs risk companies shutting up shop in one part of the country in order to exploit tax breaks elsewhere, and, worst of all, lower employment rights."

"The British people did not vote for this new administration and they certainly did not vote to see their jobs and livelihoods threatened in favour of gifting further tax breaks to big companies and their bosses."

74 UK SEZs

There are now 74 SEZs and 12 freeports being installed across the UK under Starmer's Labour Government:

• 48 SEZs and 8 freeports in England;
• 18 SEZs and 2 freeports in Scotland; and,
• 8 SEZs and 2 Freeports in Wales.

Privatised fiefdoms

On 30 June 2026, Carole Hawkins posted on X:

Freeports & SEZs that are already the devolved areas of the UK now controlled by Blackrock, DP World (owners of P&O), Blackstone, Deloitte, Amazon, Meta, Apple, Exxon Mobil, BP, Uber, Babcock, Peel Group, Otter Ports Ltd, and Macquarie.

These entities are unregulated, pay no taxes for 10 years, and receive 25-year leases, creating 100% privatised fiefdoms under the guise of Freeports and SEZs all taxpayer funded to the tune of £84 billion+.

As a result, people living within a 75 km radius become the property of CEOs, with the removal of their rights. These corporations can even compulsorily purchase your property, house, and land at a price of their choosing.

EU ports/SEZs

The EU’s 82 ports/SEZs are publicly owned and are mostly in countries that joined the bloc after 2004. Governments of member states are prohibited from giving State aid to companies of their choosing, which harms the integrity of the EU Single Market and creates an unlevel playing field.

Countries must respect EU State aid rules and cannot financially support manufacturing firms located in the areas. The EU does not encourage them, arguing it creates unfair competition between firms operating within them and those adhering to normal EU rules.

Freeport supporters argue that after Brexit, their creation could bring greater benefits to the UK if the country no longer has to follow EU rules on subsidies. Eamonn Butler, a member of both free market think-tank the Adam Smith Institute and the government's new Freeports Advisory Panel, said freeports would set the UK "on the right course" after Brexit:

"They would provide safe harbour for trade in turbulent times and show that hi-tech hubs of enterprise, low taxes, deregulation and trade without restriction can rebalance the economy."

Organised crime

Geneva freeport: "premier place" to store valuable works of art

Due to their lack of supervision, freeports are ideal for organised crime, both by intelligence agencies like the CIA and by crime gangs.

Several weapons and drugs smuggling schemes have connections to them. Panama’s Colón Free Trade Zone, with its proximity to the Panama Canal, is a beehive of illicit activity, having cooperated with smugglers to transport weapons and illicit goods to and from private militias across South America..

They don't even have to be by the ocean. The Geneva freeport is a warehouse complex in Geneva, Switzerland, for the storage of art and other valuables and collectibles. The freeport has been described as the "premier place" to store valuable works of art, and users "come for the security and stay for the tax treatment". In September 1995, Swiss and Italian police raided the building and uncovered 3,800 historic artifacts worth an estimated $35 million and arrested the art dealer Giacomo Medici. He was later found guilty of "receiving stolen goods, illegal export of goods, and conspiracy to traffic" in May 2005.

 

Related Document

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:Boris Johnson's first two priorities for post-Brexit Britain	Article	1 February 2020	Richard Murphy	Boris Johnson has admitted what Brexit was for. He wants to control and constrain people. The market in labour will be constrained. And let’s not for a moment pretend that a Freeport supports markets: freeports are instead about permitting the free movement of capital beyond the control of the state and without the imposition of any taxes.

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