FREEPORTS are not a silver bullet solution for regional economic decline but there is no reason to assume that they should not play a valuable part in our economic mix.
Learning from historical examples enables us to reconfigure the relationship between these areas and the wider regional economy – and as recent negotiation shows, adaptation is possible to create a better fit with the political flavour of different parts of the country.
Worth thinking outside of the usual box when we think of freeports. In Scotland’s case there is no reason to assume that either or both need be based at sea ports.
READ MORE: Why is there an SNP-Green row over freeports in Scotland?
Prestwick Airport might be a worthy contender as the centre of a freeport area. This could breathe new life into an area which encapsulates the majority of Ayrshire’s population, and the deep water port at Hunterston is well within the 45 km distance covered by the usual rules. This would also help to make sense of the government’s significant investment in keeping the airport open.
I hope the key figures at the three local authorities in Ayrshire have at the very least considered this as a possibility for a collaborative bid.
Just a thought.
Gus McSkimming
Ardrossan
WHY are the SNP accepting these freeports from Westminster? This can only be detrimental to our economy. What will be sold through these “freeports”? You can bet your boots it won’t be Scottish goods. This only suits big corporations, and the SNP must know that. We are becoming more like a banana republic every day.
READ MORE: The UK Government is trampling over Scotland again with freeports
I have come to the conclusion that the SNP follow Westminster policies like sheep because they are incapable of making decisions for Scotland’s future. If that’s the case Nicola Sturgeon must stand aside, because it is now becoming obvious that she no longer cares about independence. She will not be forgiven for the wasted years which could have seen us build our country in readiness.
The UK is being destroyed by right-wing policies and we are going down with them because we don’t have politicians with the ability to make the country ready for independence. It is no wonder that the SNP are haemorrhaging support, which is so disheartening after all the effort and hard work from activists to make it a great party.
Rosemary Smith
East Kilbride
COULD someone explain why the Scottish Government has agreed to freeports (green or otherwise) when this clearly contravenes Article VI of The Act of Union, which states “that all parts of the United Kingdom for ever, from and after the Union, shall have the same Allowances and Encouragements, and be under the same Prohibitions, Restrictions, and Regulations of Trade, and liable to the same Customs and Duties on Import and Export”?
Richard Easson
Dornoch
MR Johnson has come, had his photo op, avoided meeting any Scottish voters or even Scottish Tories and gone back to Londonshire.
He has made much of the Royal Navy shipbuilding programme in Scotland while forgetting the types of frigate are in numbers far short of the Royal Navy’s requirements for combat-capable hulls and way short of the numbers promised during the Better Together campaign.
An International Defence Journal review on the Royal Navy’s “Future Frigate” programme stated the shipbuilding programme was “inadequate” for a supposed “global power” as by 2040 it is unlikely the Royal Navy will have more than 18 combat-capable hulls at sea at any one time. This figure includes the hunter-killer Astute class submarines. The Royal Navy, for all its pride and tradition, will become a second-rate or even third-rate naval power, lagging behind New Zealand in combat-capable hulls.
READ MORE: Scottish ship builders ‘owed apology’ after Boris Johnson's visit to Rosyth
The Type 31 frigates are expected to cost around £17 billion each (fitted but missing a number of key weapon systems from the original Royal Navy specification, dropped by the MoD to keep the price down).
The Royal Navy could have had two more reduced-capability Type 31s for the amount the Westminster government blew on NHS England’s £37 billion “test and trace” farago, which never worked, let alone the estimated £29bn it has lost due to fraud, according to the government’s own fraud minister who has recently resigned in a damning speech in the House of Lords.
No mention was made of Tory defence minister’s attempts to get the two main contractors to move their production to English yards or consider a deal where the frigates were built in India and shipped back to the UK for fitting out, all of which delayed the actual ordering of the ships from the Scotstoun and Rosyth yards by more than six years.
It was all, “Scotland is lucky to have a government in Westminster that is so generous.” Aye right.
Peter Thomson
via email
IN your article “Will road tolls return to Scottish transport? The story so far” (thenational.scot, Feb 15), Neil Bibby MSP says: “If the transport minister is going to reintroduce tolls on the Forth and Tay bridges then the public need to know. Instead of hammering commuters in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, we should be trying to make green and public transport affordable, accessible and convenient.”
Mr Bibby is playing politics here. We all know there are plenty of votes in saying what motorists want to hear. The harm caused by the ever-spiralling traffic on our roads is insidious, rarely makes the headlines, but is far more damaging over a mid to long timeframe. We can only solve this if politicians are prepared to stand up for principles rather than easy votes.
Ted Baxter
via email
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel