Freeports are special economic zones, providing tax and customs benefits aimed at reducing economic friction and encouraging regional development. This place-based policy analysis of UK freeports draws upon qualitative interviews and deliberative workshops with leading industry, government, and civil society stakeholders in the two largest Freeport regions – Teesside and Liverpool. We find first, that purported tax, customs, and planning benefits are deemed less economically important than the agglomeration of innovation industries within a defined geographic boundary. Second, that stronger action on environmental and economic (in)justice is needed – Freeports could be a just transition mechanism if they can avoid capture by a ‘closed shop’ of industry players. Third, Freeports could facilitate cross-sectoral low-carbon economic regeneration, though they are subject to cycles of expectation, hype, and disappointment. We conclude that national policymakers must acknowledge the competing geographic and governance scales emerging within Freeport-hosting communities, as distributive environmental injustices between different locations remain broadly unaddressed. Finally, though cognisant of changes in political leadership on the horizon, we conclude that Freeports will increase the geographic spread of environmental injustice if this model of low-tax and low-regulation economics becomes a political norm within UK regional economic redevelopment strategy.

中文翻译：

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自由港的政治——对英国区域经济复兴的基于地点的分析

自由港是经济特区，提供税收和海关优惠，旨在减少经济摩擦并鼓励区域发展。这种基于地点的英国自由港政策分析借鉴了对两个最大的自由港地区——蒂赛德和利物浦的领先行业、政府和民间社会利益相关者的定性访谈和审议研讨会。我们首先发现，所谓的税收、关税和规划利益被认为在经济上不如在特定地理边界内集聚创新产业重要。其次，需要在环境和经济（不）公正方面采取更强有力的行动——如果自由港能够避免被行业参与者的“封闭商店”占领，那么自由港可能是一种公正的过渡机制。第三，自由港可以促进跨部门的低碳经济复兴，尽管它们会受到期望、炒作和失望的循环影响。我们的结论是，国家政策制定者必须承认自由港所在社区内出现的相互竞争的地理和治理规模，因为不同地点之间的分配环境不公正仍然广泛未得到解决。最后，尽管我们认识到政治领导力即将发生变化，但我们得出的结论是，如果这种低税收和低监管的经济模式成为英国区域经济再发展战略中的政治规范，自由港将扩大环境不公正的地理范围。