'Made in Britain.......'

As is well-known, you can torture statistics to tell you anything you want to hear. So I always take the ONS economic surveys with a barrow-load of salt.

According to them the UK has suffered a double dip recession.

But a trawl of the financial commentators hardly confirms this.

The general picture is of steady growth during the first six months. The Purchasing Managers’ Survey (always a sound bellwether) is one source that indicates this.

The aerospace industry is busy. The car industry is doing just fine. Unemployment is down, and 166,000 new jobs were created in the first quarter. Growth exceeds losses despite hefty redundancies in the public sector. This trend is continuing and most jobs are full-time. And whilst I am at it, let me dispel the widely-held notion that ‘we don’t make anything anymore’, despite the fact that manufacturing accounts for over 80% of our exports and output is double that of 1958.

The car industry first.

The UK, US and Germany are all making good profits.

Spain, France and Italy are, as Fiat boss described it, ‘Standing in the doo-doo’. Peugeot/Citroen made a first half loss of $1 bn. At the time JLR was announcing another 4-figure jobs increase, Peugeot wants to cut 6,500 jobs and close its Paris plant (but Hollande won’t let them!). Ford expects to lose $1 bn+ from its Europe operations. GM expects to lose $1 bn also in addition to the $14 bn lost since 1999. Renault is struggling with sinking sales. As many as 12 plants will need to close to remove surplus capacity.

By contrast, JLR has had a record year. The UK has become a net exporter of cars for the first time since the 1970’s.

The UK is home to no less than 8 global car firms, as well as Dennis, Leyland, LDV, and JCB with the heavy stuff. Half of all Ford diesel engines are made at Dagenham.

Other industrial behemoths are BAE Systems, the second largest aerospace company in the world, the amazing GKN which was founded in 1767 to make nuts and bolts and things and is now an international company right at the cutting-edge of technology, Vosper Thorneycroft, one of the world’s largest builders of warships, and at the luxury end, Princess, Sealine, and Sunseeker build motor yachts on an international scale.

And we are  home to the second and third largest pharma companies in the world, Astra-Zeneca and GSM.

If you would like to drink to our success, we are also home to 3 of the world’s biggest brewers.

Cheers!