A port is publicly owned.
A freeport is privately owned.
A freeport is privately owned.
https://twitter.com/EuropeanPowell/status/2061344029258723346
Sunak and Truss's flagship Brexit freeport — Teesworks, Teesside — is effectively closed as a functioning freeport.
What's next for the site? A data centre. Designated an AI Growth Zone.
Same land. Same governance structure. New branding.
What's next for the site? A data centre. Designated an AI Growth Zone.
Same land. Same governance structure. New branding.
Standard seed capital for each of the UK's 12 freeports: £25 million.
Teesworks received £560 million in public funding.
A government review confirmed the private developers put no direct cash into the project. Energy Voice
The public took the risk. The private sector took the profit.
Teesworks received £560 million in public funding.
A government review confirmed the private developers put no direct cash into the project. Energy Voice
The public took the risk. The private sector took the profit.
The mechanism.
Teesworks Ltd began as a 50/50 joint venture between the publicly owned South Tees Development Corporation and businessmen Chris Musgrave and Martin Corney. The majority of shares were then handed to the private partners at no additional cost, in secret.
Outcome: 90% private, 10% public.
Teesworks Ltd began as a 50/50 joint venture between the publicly owned South Tees Development Corporation and businessmen Chris Musgrave and Martin Corney. The majority of shares were then handed to the private partners at no additional cost, in secret.
Outcome: 90% private, 10% public.
Accounts published in January 2024 showed net profits of £54 million in an exceptional 2022/23 financial year, with millions extracted in dividend payments by the private partners. The developers had also made £68 million from a plot of land bought from the public sector for £1 per acre.
Public money. Private gain. No tender process.
Public money. Private gain. No tender process.
Labour MP Andy McDonald called it "industrial-scale corruption" in the Commons.
Michael Gove blocked an NAO investigation, saying it would not have been "appropriate" work for the spending watchdog, and instead commissioned a panel of three local authority officers. ITV News
Angela Rayner also refused to pursue it.
No formal audit has ever been produced.
Michael Gove blocked an NAO investigation, saying it would not have been "appropriate" work for the spending watchdog, and instead commissioned a panel of three local authority officers. ITV News
Angela Rayner also refused to pursue it.
No formal audit has ever been produced.
While the review was underway, Ben Houchen was awarded a peerage. Many figures under corruption investigations are suspended from their roles pending the outcome. Houchen was elevated to the Lords.
He is now Lord Houchen of High Leven, and chairs the body overseeing the site.
He is now Lord Houchen of High Leven, and chairs the body overseeing the site.
The data centre planning application at Teesworks was submitted by Teesworks Ltd.
The same vehicle. The same private majority shareholders. The company that is 90% privately owned by two local businessmen is now positioning for the AI Growth Zone era.
The extraction model doesn't end. It evolves.
The same vehicle. The same private majority shareholders. The company that is 90% privately owned by two local businessmen is now positioning for the AI Growth Zone era.
The extraction model doesn't end. It evolves.
A flagship blue hydrogen project, H2Teesside, was formally withdrawn in December 2025 after the data centre received planning permission on overlapping land. BP's decarbonisation project, which would have served genuine industrial users, was cleared out of the way.
Industrial jobs replaced by server halls. Public accountability replaced by private governance.
Industrial jobs replaced by server halls. Public accountability replaced by private governance.
The UK has over 90 free zones.
Teesworks is the template, not the exception.
£560 million, no audit, profits flowing 90/10 to the private sector, and the public body that failed to scrutinise it chaired by the man who benefited most.
The question now is simple: which of the other 90 zones is running the same model?
Teesworks is the template, not the exception.
£560 million, no audit, profits flowing 90/10 to the private sector, and the public body that failed to scrutinise it chaired by the man who benefited most.
The question now is simple: which of the other 90 zones is running the same model?
A European Commission study published in October 2023 revealed there are 62 active free zones in the EU. Down from 82, which is a reduction of roughly a quarter, consistent with the pattern expected given the tightening regulatory environment.
The contrast with the UK model is stark.
EU free zone approvals are subject to EU state aid rules, under which it is illegal for member states to give financial advantages to companies.
That's the structural prohibition the UK freeport model was specifically designed to escape post-Brexit. Sunak's pitch was never really about trade logistics, it was about operating outside that constraint.
The European Parliament had already identified where the zone model leads without those constraints: a 2018 European Parliament report found that free zones carry significant money laundering and tax evasion risks, and the EU subsequently moved to tighten oversight rather than expand the model.
EU free zone approvals are subject to EU state aid rules, under which it is illegal for member states to give financial advantages to companies.
That's the structural prohibition the UK freeport model was specifically designed to escape post-Brexit. Sunak's pitch was never really about trade logistics, it was about operating outside that constraint.
The European Parliament had already identified where the zone model leads without those constraints: a 2018 European Parliament report found that free zones carry significant money laundering and tax evasion risks, and the EU subsequently moved to tighten oversight rather than expand the model.
Conclusion
The EU once operated 82 free zones. Identifying systemic abuses:
Money laundering
Tax evasion
Corporate capture of the commons
The EU tightened regulations and contracted the network. There are now 62 free zones, and falling.
The UK currently operates over 90 free zones, and is adding more.
This isn't a normal trade instrument that responsible governments deploy.
It's one that the EU examined, found wanting, and wound back.
The UK looked at the same evidence and accelerated.
That's not a policy difference. It's a choice about who the state is working for.
The EU once operated 82 free zones. Identifying systemic abuses:
Money laundering
Tax evasion
Corporate capture of the commons
The EU tightened regulations and contracted the network. There are now 62 free zones, and falling.
The UK currently operates over 90 free zones, and is adding more.
This isn't a normal trade instrument that responsible governments deploy.
It's one that the EU examined, found wanting, and wound back.
The UK looked at the same evidence and accelerated.
That's not a policy difference. It's a choice about who the state is working for.
I am a volunteer, who has been exposing the UK duopoly's collusion on the nationwide rollout of free zones immediately after Brexit.
Please support my research, read, share, and subscribe to my Substack
ko-fi.com/europeanpowell
Please support my research, read, share, and subscribe to my Substack
ko-fi.com/europeanpowell
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