In 2016 a young Conservative MP authored a paper for the Centre for Policy Studies. Rishi Sunak had only been elected the year before, but he was already making a name for himself as a competent, promising Brexiteer who would have a bright future in the party. Grandly referring to “the ancient Mediterranean… Delosian model” of 500BC, he claimed that Brexit provided an opportunity to create a host of “special economic zones”.
These zones – otherwise known as freeports – would be a central feature of the Conservatives’ 2019 levelling up agenda, to be located in “areas outside London where economic need is higher”, and stimulating economic activity by offering significant reductions and deferrals on import and export duties, tariffs, business rates and other corporate taxes.
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