Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department's news story entitled Government outlines new plans for Freeports to turbo-charge post-Brexit trade published on 7 October 2020, how many of the planned freeports are expected to be inland.

The government plans to establish Freeports across the UK. These will be national hubs for trade, innovation and commerce, regenerating communities across the UK. Freeports will spread jobs, investment and opportunity to towns and cities up and down the country by unleashing the economic potential of our ports.

We recently published our response to the Freeports consultation, clearly outlining a wide range of measures to create vibrant, innovative Freeports which are attractive to domestic and international investors looking to start or grow their UK operations. The Freeports consultation response is publicly available online at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/freeports-consultation

As outlined in the consultation response, we are inviting ports of all modes (air, sea and rail), and businesses, universities and local authorities from across the country to reach out to each other, collaborate and begin to build a strategy for how their region can best meet our ambition.

Specific locations will be chosen in due course according to a fair, transparent and robust bidding process; details of which will be published in due course.