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Privatised ports a hindrance to economic development
KENNY MacASKILL argues that ports are a local community assets and as such should be governed by corresponding municipalities or even nationalised
FOREIGN CASH COWS: Forth Port’s bid to be a new green freeport to be centred in Leith has been approved after the UK and Scottish governments last January

FREEPORTS are rightly in the public eye but what about port ownership? That has had much less publicity but is often equally insidious.

Freeports are of course a shameful tax dodge, undermining workers’ rights and distorting our economy. They’re also a licence for organised crime.

As a former justice secretary, I previously chaired the Scottish Anti-illicit Trade Group, an amalgam of public and private organisations to address illicit and counterfeit trade.

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