David Powell
 David Powell     (political activist, artist) | |
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| Alma mater | UCL |
| Party | Green Party |
David Powell is a British political activist who campaigns against Freeports, special economic zones (SEZs) and tax havens. He lives in The Netherlands and is a Senior lecturer in Fine Art at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague.[1]
Globalisation on steroids
On 6 October 2024, David Powell posted on X:
SEZs are happening all over the world, they are globalisation on steroids, there are 5,400 SEZs in total, many of which sprang up post-2008 financial crisis under secondary legislation which basically means zero Parliamentary or public scrutiny. COVID-19/Pandemic also gave cover to multinationals avoiding accountability.
The libertarian drug is massive deregulation as frontier capitalists queue up for the UK’s 86 free trade zones ranging from 38 to 75km in diameter, all bidding on UK free trade zones took place between 2021 and 2022, they are subsidised with public money in the form of State aid. Each SEZ receives £160 million in State aid multiplied by 74 = £11 billion, 840 million.
Do you honestly believe the Tories and Starmer’s changed Labour Party’s plans for growth are benign?
The duopoly only answer to corporate demands which is deregulation and profit (growth) first, don't think public services will improve once these zones are operational, everything is up for grabs. 192 of England's councils have worse debts than Birmingham City Council, which has been issued with and S114 notice, which is technically bankruptcy.
The most lucrative line of business in post-Brexit UK is firmly between corporations and the Govt, you and your family's only role in that system will be for grunt work inside the zones to bolster figures for the domestic workforce exodus of EU workers due to the magic B-word.
What's already happening is a turbocharged deregulation spree that will accelerate ‘under the table deals’ exploiting the transition phase between 'sunsetted' EU/UK laws being replaced with 'anti-statist laws tailored to benefit private corporations. EU/UK laws took 40 years to develop, so that means companies have the next 25 years (the duration of the licences) to make their own rules inside the UK's free trade zones.
On 31st Dec 2023, Jacob Rees-Mogg’s Retained EU Law Bill revoked over 600 EU/UK laws overnight with 1000’s more for the chop by 2026. The 3 main areas targeted were employment rights, food safety and environmental protections. This bill is now in Keir Starmer’s intray.
Did you know that Labour MPs, Mayors, councillors, Lords, and Baronesses were board members of Sunak and Truss's nationwide SEZs/Freeports consortia?
One last thing: UK SEZs and Freeports contravene EU rules on State aid, where govts of member states are prohibited from giving public money solely for the purposes of profit, this distorts markets creating an unlevel playing field.[2]
