SIR KEIR Starmer will give the go-ahead to five special economic zones – once labelled a “Brexit benefit” by the Tories to drive growth and jobs.
The Prime Minister has given his backing to the new wave of ‘freeports’ which attempt to encourage business to the low tax areas.
They were first established by Margaret Thatcher and then championed by Rishi Sunak who introduced eight hubs across the country.
It’s expected the five zones will be formally named in the Budget next week by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
There will also be confirmation of a new investment zone, where the government ploughs in cash, in the East Midlands to catalyse growth and investment.
But Sir Keir says he is bringing them “with no ideological lens” despite being a Tory initiative.
Along with the freeport and investment zone initiatives, there will be a growth plan drawn up for every area by mayors and local authorities in partnership with local business groups.
Sir Keir said: “Targeted programmes that attract investment and generate jobs and growth for local people, underpinned by our industrial strategy, and the economic stability my government brings, will turbocharge the potential of areas across the country.
“I have always said I will look at whatever will deliver for working people, with no ideological lens.
“So yes freeports were a scheme we inherited, but when combined with Labour’s laser focus on growth generated from the ground up, we will maximise their potential.
“My government is rewiring how and where growth is generated to secure investment and create good jobs for working people.”
Freeports have so far attracted £2.9 billion of investment and created around 6,000 jobs.
Whitehall officials say Investment Zones in England have estimated to have created 89,000 additional jobs.
Ex-PM Margaret Thatcher first introduced the idea of freeports back in the 1980s but they lapsed under David Cameron’s government in 2012.
The idea was picked up again by Rishi Sunak who brought them back as Chancellor in 2021.
The zones were typically based around cargo ports such as Hull, Southampton and Plymouth.
They benefited from tax breaks including no stamp duty, rebates on constriction investment and five years of zero business rates.
Back in May 2023, the ex-PM said: “I introduced freeports – a Brexit benefit around the country attracting jobs and investment to lots of different places.”
PUBS face widespread closures if hit in the Budget, an industry boss has warned — as many make just 12p profit per pint.
David McDowall has urged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to throw the licensed trade a lifeline next week.
Landlords have had a 75 per cent reduction in business rates since Covid.
But that is due to end in April and losing it would cost them an extra £2.5billion, figures show.
Mr McDowall, chief exec of the Stonegate Group which includes the Slug & Lettuce and Yates’s, said publicans had faced a storm of challenges since the pandemic.
They include high inflation, soaring energy costs and pressure on consumer spending.
He noted the British Beer and Pub Association recently revealed boozers make 12p profit per pint.
Mr McDowall added: “Landlords don’t have any more to give.
“Removing that rate relief would prove very costly for pubs, bars, restaurants and cafes.”
Senior hospitality industry figures have also asked the Chancellor to extend the freeze on alcohol duty — due to end on February 1.
The Treasury said it was pledged to support businesses such as pubs.
FINDING love can be a tall order, but these celeb couples don’t fall short on romance despite their height difference.
It appears that seeing eye-to-eye, literally, isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Just ask Hollywood stars Zendaya and Tom Holland.
At 5ft 10in, statuesque Zendaya towers over her 5ft 8in beau, especially in a pair of six-inch heels.
However, Brit actor Tom has insisted: “She’s not THAT much taller . . . it’s not like people say, ‘How did you guys kiss?’ ”
Here, Josh Saunders looks at other famous couples of different heights – and how their relationships stack up.
GAME Of Thrones star Gwen, 45, was told she would “probably never work on screen” due in part to her height.
Her fashion designer partner of 11 years, Giles, is two inches shorter than her.
HARRY Potter star Daniel, 35, worked his magic on taller beauty Erin, 40, when they met 12 years ago.
They are now settled with a young son but have never addressed the height difference.
WITH a good seven inches separating them, supermodel Sophie, 47, is head and shoulders above singer Jamie, 45.
But she isn’t fussed, saying: “When you’re happy, you don’t give a s***.”
ROD’S team wanted Penny, 53, to ditch the heels when they met.
Now she lets the 79-year-old go first through doors, so he won’t “look like my son behind me”.
NICOLE, 57, seems to loom over country music star hubby Keith, 56, in stilettos.
But she is only one inch taller. She must like short men, as she was previously wed to 5ft 7in Tom Cruise.
ROCK guitarist Benji, 45, needn’t fret about being three inches smaller than his actress wife Cameron, 52.
She loves him just the way he is, insisting: “I got the best man ever.”
A BRIT Award-winning singer has been left heartbroken after her car was stolen on her birthday.
The star also revealed their songwriting books had been in the vehicle’s boot.
RAYE – real name Rachel Agatha Keen – made history earlier this year by scooping six awards at the Brits.
Taking to Instagram, the 27-year-old shared snaps from her birthday alongside the sad update.
RAYE penned: “It’s my birthday and my car got stolen with all my song writing books in the boot so no second album any time soon love you bye.”
Showing support, one fan replied: “I’m starting my own investigation, we need that album.”
Another commented: “Operation find Raye‘s car….NOW!!!”
While a third wrote: “WHAT? raye so sorry your bday had to kick off with you getting robbed!? but also happy birthday queen.”
Yet another chimed in: “This is not acceptable, we need to find that car right NOW. Happy birthday queen.”
At the Brits, Raye triumphed in categories including Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist and R&B Act.
She smashed the previous record for number of awards collected in a single night.
Harry Styles, who claimed four gongs last year, had most recently achieved that feat.
When collecting her prize for Album of the Year, RAYE thanked her grandmother, Agatha Dawson, who joined her on stage.
She said: “I want to thank my grandma for her prayers. My grandma is awake until 3am praying for me and my beautiful sisters.
“I love you so much. My middle name is Agatha and this is Agatha Dawson.”
The impressive haul followed the success of RAYE‘s debut studio album My 21st Century Blues.
Just three years ago, the star was told her songs were not good enough to release on an album.
The South London-born vocalist had reached breaking point with Polydor Records, who she signed with at 17.
She previously wrote on social media: “I have been signed to a major label since 2014 and I have had albums on albums of music sat in folders collecting dust, songs I am now giving away to A-list artists because I am still awaiting confirmation that I am good enough to release an album.”
However, she parted ways with the record label in July 2021.
BIG Brother’s Izaaz has become the third person to be evicted from the famous house.
The news came as a huge shock to viewers as they expected Marcello to get the boot – after his controversial time in the house.
Izaaz, Khaled, Marcello and Nathan were all up for eviction.
But it has been Marcello who has caused a series of issues throughout his stay – not Izaaz.
And things reached boiling this point week after Marcello was seen grabbing Lily by the neck in shock scenes.
Those watching at home are convinced the wrong person has gone home.
One person raged: “This has gotta be a fix there is no way people voted izzaz over marchello.”
A second said: “Ain’t no way people were voting to evict Izaaz. This is a blatant fix.”
While a third commented: “You left the misogynist in the house. I bet you any money this is a fix.”
In scenes that aired on the compound’s live feed on Wednesday night, Lily was seen sticking her fingers up at Marcello as she walked by him.
In response, Marcello grabbed her by the wrist with one hand and put his other briefly around her neck.
Lily quickly pulls her head away from him, and he then throws his arm around her in a half-hug before she shrugs him off and walks away.
Insiders say Marcello was later given a talking to by Big Brother bosses.
A source told us: “The moment was spotted by fans during the live stream but didn’t make the next day’s 60-minute episode.
“However, Marcello was reminded of Big Brother’s expectation for appropriate behaviour and language while in the house.”
Anti-Semitism row
That wasn’t the only drama the house saw this week – an episode was edited following concerns raised about a Ali’s T-shirt containing an alleged “symbol widely associated with anti-Israel sentiment”.
Ali wore a watermelon T-shirt on the ITV2 show that appeared to resemble the colours of the Palestinian flag in red, green, white and black, and what seemed like the shape of the disputed Israel and Palestine territories.
Meanwhile, Marcello has repeatedly come under fire by viewers for his behaviour in the house, with him being accused of ‘misogynistic’ remarks towards female housemates.
During one moment, Marcello was seen telling Sarah she “smelled like period” and asked her if she was menstruating when she was in a bad mood.
He was also asked by Ali to stop making sexually graphic remarks with the members of the house when they didn’t ask for it.
The youth worker had previously falsely claimed he and Ali had kissed – prompting a wave of Ofcom complaints.
A POLL this week showed that one in four Americans fear a civil war might break out after the country’s election on November 5.
I’m surprised the number is not higher.
The poll found 27 per cent of voters saying that they fear violence is “very or somewhat likely” after the country votes for a new President in just under two weeks. Of course they do.
In 2016 the surprise election of Donald Trump to the White House drove half of America into a type of nervous breakdown.
Then in 2020, when Trump refused to concede the election, the breakdown happened on part of the other side.
Throw in the summer of BLM riots in 2020 and much more and you can see why the fear of violence breaking out is so common.
On top of this, there have been two assassination attempts on the former President already — one of which came within a hair’s breadth of blowing Trump’s brains out on live television.
Add in Joe Biden’s own party finally realising he has almost completely checked out and swapping him for Kamala Harris.
And Harris’s own campaign moving from the theme of “joy” on to “Trump is literally Hitler” and you can see the fears.
If Trump does win the election, the Left in America will certainly riot.
They will make sure cities they believe they dominate go up in flames again.
And if Kamala Harris wins? Who knows if there could be another refusal to accept the result.
But a candidate such as Harris, who absolutely nobody was enthusiastic about until they were forced to pretend to be, will certainly stir up strong feelings.
The truth is that the US election is still far too close to call. Both sides are pushing around polls that show them in the lead.
But in the key swing states like Pennsylvania and Georgia, most of the polls show less than a one per cent lead in either direction.
The 2024 presidential election will most likely be decided by a couple of hundred thousand voters and whether they have really been honest with the pollsters to date.
It’s not surprising that in this situation, and with such a crucial choice, every election detail is being pored over.
There are reports of a surge of early voting in the state of Georgia.
Almost two million voters have already cast their votes there, in a state which Trump only lost in 2020 by a little over 10,000 votes.
But which side does it benefit?
Over the past four years, Trump has waged a constant assault on the corruption potential of absentee, postal voting.
He has repeatedly pointed out the system’s ability to be rigged. So it has been assumed that a surge in postal voting would favour Harris.
But in recent months Trump has done a switcheroo and since giving postal voting his blessing, a large number of Trump voters may now feel happy to do their voting that way.
We won’t know the result for a couple of weeks, of course. And perhaps longer.
It wasn’t just the 2020 election that took a long time to be settled.
In 2000 the election of George W Bush famously came down to a few “hanging chads” and a court action in Florida.
America is used to its elections being decided on a knife edge.
Yet even by these standards, this election feels fraught.
In part it is because both candidates have such clear downsides as well as upsides.
At this stage there probably isn’t a voter in America who doesn’t have an opinion on Donald Trump.
Many of them love him. Many will be keen for the drama of his years in office not to be repeated.
Yet look at the last four years under Biden-Harris and there is plenty of chaos there too.
The current administration allowed America’s southern border to hang wide open, allowing in millions of illegal migrants who are causing problems familiar to us here in Britain too.
Harris could have seized the opportunity to show how she’d do things differently.
But she has run a hopeless campaign.
She keeps saying that she is the “change” candidate.
But whenever she is asked what she would do differently from the past four years in the administration she was a part of, she fails to come up with anything.
Trump’s message is clear: Vote for me and I’ll clear up this mess.
Harris’s message, by contrast, is itself a mess: I’m proud of how we broke things and I’m also going to fix it.
In truth Harris has only one real rallying point, which she has now fallen back to using. Which is: Vote for me because I’m not Donald Trump, who is literally Adolf Hitler.
It’s not exactly a positive vision. But then America isn’t in a positive place right now.