YP Comment: Free to trade

BRITAIN'S prosperity after leaving the European Union will depend to a degree on innovative thinking, and the proposal to create free ports is one such idea worthy of serious attention.

Ports that are considered outside the country for customs purposes hold out the prospect of creating jobs and boosting trade, according to the Richmond MP Rishi Sunak, and if the country were to go down this route, Yorkshire would be ideally placed to benefit.

The Humber is already one of our principal gateways to international trade, and if the fortunes of its ports could be improved post-Brexit, then that would be of tremendous value not only for our region, but to the wider economy of the North.

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Free ports have proved their worth in the United States, and the report makes a persuasive case that they would work for a Britain forging a new economic relationship with the world.