(Bloomberg) — Chancellor Rachel Reeves will not unveil any new freeports across the UK in her budget this week, the Financial Times reported.
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Reeves will announce further steps on five existing freeports that are set to get clearance for custom sites within their boundaries and continued funding for the existing freeports scheme, the newspaper reported, citing unnamed officials.
The government on Friday announced that Reeves will approve five new freeports in her budget on Wednesday. The announcement was a communications mistake, according to the report.
“This government remains committed to ensuring the customs benefits remain on offer and are available in the new sites, which have been put forward by the industry,” a spokesperson for the government said Sunday over the phone, declining to comment further on the FT report.
The government will not add to the 12 existing freeports across the UK, which were part of the previous Tory government’s flagship economic policy, the report said. Freeports, which disappeared in Britain almost a decade ago, were revived by consecutive Conservative administrations following Brexit.
Previously: Reeves to Embrace Tory Legacy by Creating More UK Freeports
(Updates with the government spokesperson’s comment in the fourth paragraph.)
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