Britain has fallen to 12th in the global manufacturing rankings, the lowest since the Industrial Revolution. Producing $259 billion (£200bn) annually, this drop places the UK behind countries like Russia, Taiwan and Mexico, according to Make UK’s analysis of 2022 data. In 2000, Britain was fifth. China leads the rankings with $5.06tn, followed by the US at $2.7tn.
The decline highlights challenges for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s administration, which aims to revamp manufacturing and invest in future technologies like electric cars, batteries and wind turbines. The government faces potential job losses at Tata Steel in Port Talbot and a crisis at Belfast’s Harland & Wolff shipyard.
In response, Starmer has proposed an interventionist industrial strategy, including infrastructure investments through the £7bn National Wealth Fund. His “missions” aim to make the UK the fastest-growing G7 economy, tackling issues like low productivity growth, which has dropped from 2.3% annually before 2007 to around 0.4% since.
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