[Post edited 29 Sep 11:40]

Good Old Labour increasing the price of everything. by Ryorry 28 Nov 2024 9:44
Thanks for the alert re thread invisibility. Copied & pasted as much of the important content as I can. I'm sure the author would be fine with that as he wants it shared as widely as poss. Only alteration I've made is to paragraph it a bit to make it easier to read. Further reading suggested by the author is listed at the bottom.


"EuropeanPowell
@EuropeanPowell
Labour partnering up with Blackrock means the UK will be privatised.
"BlackRock own, and extract income from, things – schools, bridges, wind farms, and homes – that are nothing less than foundational to our daily being’. This requires them to ‘relentlessly squeeze’ profits out of their holdings – whether that means hiking rents for vulnerable tenants, or charging for the use of common infrastructure" -
@graceblakeley

Read Grace Blakeley's book Vulture Capitalism, she describes how the erosion of the nation-state is engineered to a point where govts working hand in hand with corporations step in to 'rescue' democracy from its failures.

The framework for the corporate coup lies in 74 Special Economic Zones (SEZs)and 12 Freeports.
Free zones are designated areas with relaxed laws and by extension relaxed enforcement of laws separate from the host country.
Secondary legislation is embedded within the free zones contracts, meaning zero Parliamentary and public scrutiny.
All free zones give numerous tax breaks to corporations for 10 years, when the deadline for the tax breaks expires, companies are already lobbying the Govt to extend them. Free zone licenses are set at 25 years, Blackrock will asset strip councils and absorb all public services, corporate governance will replace social governance, collective sovereignty (people power) will be replaced with corporate sovereignty (asset classes power).

Now the figures.
Each SEZ receives £160 million in State aid which is public money, multiplied by 74 = £11 billion 840 million
Each Freeport receive £25 million multiplied by 12 = £300 million
Teesside Freeport and SEZ has already spent £560 million of taxpayers money, see @PrivateEyeNews

Teesside was Sunak's flagship Brexit Freeports, profit share is split 90/10 in favour of the private sector.
The UK public are paying billions in subsidies to some of the wealthiest and most corrupt corporations on the planet. Your money is being invested in your regions demise and your families transformation into serfs.

UK free zones contravene EU laws and regulations on State aid where govts of member states are prohibited from using State aid to make profits, this disrupts the integrity of the Single Market by creating an unlevel playing field.
UK SEZs sabotage the UK's chances of rejoining the EU not just because of bypassing rules on State aid but also because of massive deregulatory 'freedoms' that allow companies to pollute the environment, 'self regulate', shred employment rights, tax evasion, turbocharge job displacement, and so on. None of this is acceptable to the EU.

Keir Starmer "There will be no rejoining the EU in my lifetime". Now you know why he says this.
Read the EU Commission website on State aid and SEZs
https://europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2020/646164/EPRS_BRI(2020)646164_EN.pdf
Lord Smith of Kelvin is managing Director of Otter Ports Ltd which is the parent company of 8 of the UK's 12 Freeports, Otter Ports Ltd is registered in the Cayman Islands, Smith did not declare this in the register of interests, Smith was a pallbearer at the Queen's funeral.

Compulsory Purchase Orders apply to business, agricultural, and residential properties, it is no coincidence that 192 councils have worse debts than Birmingham which was issued with an S114 notice which is technically bankruptcy. 6,000 people could have their homes torn down as part of a £2.2bn project in which 1,266 council houses and 567 properties could be repossessed in a mass compulsory purchase order for the area. Birmingham is host to 6 SEZs. https://theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jul/22/economic-violence-ladywood-birmingham-redevelopment-residents-clash-council
All 12 UK Freeports are housed inside a Special Economic Zone that ranges from 33 to 75km in diameter, why? SEZs are expansionist by nature, the growth Reeves obsesses with is about corporations, private equity making serious incursions into the public sector, that is privatisation not just of public services but of the entire country, SEZs perforate holes in the fabric of the nation, as zone fever takes hold, economies outside the zones will be forced to capitulate to the corporate political model.

6 days into office Rachel Reeves refused permission for the National Audit Office to investigate England's 48 SEZ's and 8 Freeports despite a damning report from the House of Commons Committee in April 2024, citing lack of transparency, questions over value for taxpayers money, and ignoring of the Nolan principles.
Join the dots.
This all happened because of Brexit, which was based on 'exit strategies' developed in the 1960's, what were once libertarian fringe fantasies have now become reality.
https://x.com/EuropeanPowell/status/1859690864995598419"

FURTHER READING suggested by @EuropeanPowell:-
"There's lots of analysis on SEZs and Freeports out there, you just won't find it in the UK MSM. Here's where to look:-

Freeports Gazette 10 articles on freeports written in 2023 via
@BylinesCymru who asked me to contribute, 'I'm not a journalist, my perspective is different', their reply 'That's what we're looking for'.
I wrote 'Mr.Drakeford, with all due respect Sunak's Freeports are a threat to democracy'

Silent Coup - How Corporations Overthrew Democracy by
@kennardmatt and @ClaireProvost

Crack-Up Capitalism by Quinn Slobodian
@zeithistoriker

Adventure Capitalism by Raymond Craib
https://bylines.cymru/freeports-gazette/
11:24 PM · Nov 23, 2024"