1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236 
THOUGHTS of romantic and exotic cities like Tangier and Trieste
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
should not have intruded; but it was difficult to banish them as Mr Anthony Steer told of his vision of free ports.
That is what the Tory MP for thE Wavertree division of the far-from free port of Liverpool wants moreover, he introduced a Bill tc allow them to be set up.
Mr Steen is, not surprisingly, in favoui of free enterprise, but this was surei3 going some.
If his plan ever came to fruition a selec tion of harbours, part of but apar from the rest of Britain, would b( scattered round our shores.
While the rest of us carried on as usual paying the odd tax and duty and fil ling in the occasional form, the in habitants of these new "freetowns' would go their own way, untrammel led by such impedimenta of model.] life as Customs and Excise duties VAT and building controls.
There would be no Government inter ference — not even aid. For Mr Steel believes in a simple truth which es. capes many today — that capital wi be found if people believe they have good chance of making profits.
True, he spoke of — but did not explai — "permitted manipulation" withi the free zone, but he declared, "Thos who think that a free port is a centi for the black market and contraban are mistaken."
Duty, apparently, would be paid whe goods left the zone "and come int Britain". So any lorryman wit thoughts of smuggling Cheap gooc out of these havens and selling the] at a healthy profit should pause.
Obviously, customs posts would be si up at every road on the "frontier" (I use Mr Steen's word), but recallir some of the roads which lead fro: present ports, that could lead t frustrating queues.
So there could be no 32-tonners thui dering along and loaded down wii duty-free goods. Any smugglir would have to be carried out by fa motorboats or pack-laden pedestriai Mr Steen took less than the permitti ten minutes to tell of his ideas, ai concluded with the stirring seri! ment, "If we are to set our people fr we must trust them."
Whether he will get a majority to bac him is more doubtful. Westminst folk are reluctant to relinquish ai powers.