Boris Johnson has set his sights on the creation of eight freeports, including Southampton, to boost trade and investmentThe government has been criticised for hiding the potential costs and benefits of Rishi Sunak’s signature freeports strategy. SponsoredHowever, the Treasury has said it has no plans to estimate the effects on economic growth, trade and investment. Instead, it will only publish “costings” for the freeports programme in the autumn statement. No attempt will be made to determine whether economic activity at the freeports is newly created or simply diverted from elsewhere in the UK. Plans for a new global minimum corporation tax may also undermine the policy, the

Source: The Times June 24, 2021 22:52 UTC