admin London and the south east is hovering to become the country’s biggest manufacturing region, overtaking Britain’s traditional industrial heartlands.
A new analysis of official data by manufacturing trade body Make UK and BDO revealed that the sector is worth £28.1bn a year in London and the south east, just £400m behind the north west’s £28.5bn.
Growing demand for hi-tech aerospace and electronics products, as well as food and drink, which the south east is heavily exposed to has boosted the region in recent years.
The South East has a more varied economy than many other regions, with less reliance on the public sector and industries such as ICT, pharmaceuticals, biotech, healthcare, high tech engineering and aerospace that are thoroughly established within the region.
The South East has a heavy concentration of internationally-significant engineering businesses, with a large number of aerospace and defence companies throughout the territory. In particular, the space industry is well developed and strong in the region, as the South East was home to the highest number of organisations engaged in space-related activities nationally in 2016, second only to London for space industry income.
There is a high propensity among businesses in the region to export, as the South East accounted for £45.2b (€50.15b) in exports in 2017, the highest value among UK regions and equal to 13.8% of UK’s total exports (UK Government, 2018). The South East has also by far the largest share of FDI projects in the UK outside London, accounting for around 11.5% of the UK total over the five years to 2016. The region experienced the lowest unemployment rate within UK, equal to 3.2% in 2017, below the national average of 4.4% (Eurostat, 2018).
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