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So, there I was, writing my piece on Freeports and just generally being a “naysayer” when this rather astonishing, bullying and disingenuous propaganda flew into my lap out of the blue, courtesy of Tees Valley mayor, @BenHouchen So this tees me up perfectly! Thread 
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Firstly, this is not about being “Brexit-sceptical”, this is about observing the rule of law. We’re already out of the EU and therefore turning this into an ‘us and them’ issue is unhelpful and misleading. A former lawyer, Ben should know better and get his details correct. /2
Teesside has been in decline for the last ten years. Under a Tory government which failed to intervene to prevent the Redcar steel works shutting down in 2015 (incidentally, Houchen, a self-proclaimed fan of our steel making heritage, was notable by his silence on this matter) /3
Not true. Not even remotely true, in fact. There are plenty of credible resources easily available which paint a much different picture of Freeports. Ben has simply chosen to disregard them completely for ideological reasons. /4
Ben is right to laud Teesside as a potentially crucial manufacturing hub with a skilled workforce. The problem will be whether or not our economy can recover from the shock of Covid and Brexit(no longer being in the customs union & single market will hurt many local businesses)/5
This thinly veiled threat implies that Tory voters would wish to see the credibility of the UK diminish as a result of reneging on an international treaty it negotiated and signed freely. It’s speculative, misinterprets the situation and should just be regarded as hubris. /6
He’s right, it is no secret. /7
It’s unclear quite what these “post Brexit opportunities” actually are, as nobody on the leave side seems to be able to offer more than speculation and sound bites. But, as every economist knows: as distance doubles, trade halves. /8
Again, the jobs issue is purely speculative and it’s impossible to predict exactly how many jobs a Freeport would provide for our local workforce nor the quality of those jobs. Brexit was all about levelling-down regulations and cutting red tape (i.e. our employment rights etc)/9
Hartlepool voted for and re-elected Mike Hill in December. He’s Labour. Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough) and Alex Cunningham (Stockton) might also be surprised by this careless generalisation. /10
There is it: Freeports are basically about “cutting taxes and red tape”. So, he’s basically selling the concept of shrinking the public purse and eroding your working standards and protections to favour corporate interests. That’s the implication. He’s essentially admitting it/11
MPs showing professional and personal integrity in questioning whether or not the UK should break international law is not “Bashing Global Britain”. This language is reckless and almost certainly indented to further stoke the divisions created and maintained by the Tory party/12
He finishes with a bit of emotional blackmail, too. A former solicitor aggressively urging Members of Parliament to be complicit in the UK contravening international law. I’ll repeat, because it’s important: A former solicitor advocating that the UK break international law. /end
