Freeports are a failed and dated Tory gimmick
Freeports are a failed and dated Tory gimmick that will only benefit the super-rich and major corporations, say the Scottish Greens.
This comes as the UK and Scottish Governments have announced that two new so-called green freeports will be established in Scotland.
Freeports are an excluded area in the cooperation agreement between the Scottish Greens and Scottish Government. This announcement does not affect the agreement.
The Scottish Greens finance spokesperson, Ross Greer MSP said:
"There is nothing green about so-called green freeports. They are a failed and dated Tory gimmick which hands public cash over to multinational corporations. They offer big tax breaks to businesses while driving down terms and conditions for workers and risking significant damage to the environment.
"Where Freeports have been attempted they have only made regional inequality worse by moving jobs around the country, rather than creating new ones. Internationally, they have been consistently associated with crime, money-laundering, smuggling and low wages while driving down environmental standards.
"Under the deal struck for Scottish freeports there are no hard requirements for the companies to meet climate targets or implement fair work practices. Warm words don't protect people and the environment from greedy corporations, legal obligations do. In this case there is plenty of the former and nowhere near enough of the latter.
"Freeports will only benefit the super-rich and the big corporations who have pushed hardest for them. Local people and communities certainly won't see the benefit if precedent from across the world is anything to go by.”