Facts

On a visit to Hartlepool, Boris Johnson claimed that “It’s thanks to Brexit that we’ve actually been able to go ahead with the FreePort in the whole of Teeside.”

The EU already allows free ports. It is not true to say you can’t have free ports or tax-free zones if you are a member state of the EU. There are more than 80 such zones across the Union.

Verdict

Johnson’s claim that the Teeside Freeport was only possible because of Brexit was nonsense. A similar claim was made by Rishi Sunak here.