The north-south divide is getting bigger, it was reported today.
The South East of England, excluding London, is this year set to experience 3.7 per cent economic growth, while the North East is expected to grow by only 2.7 per cent, according to a survey commissioned by the Financial Times.
The figures are based on forecast models examined by researchers from the Oxford Economic Forecasting unit. A slump in the performance of manufacturing industry has seen regional growth rates pushed farther apart, so that the West Midlands is expected to grow by only 2.8 per cent. The more manufacturing-based economies of the Midlands and northern England have been hit by the strength of the pound.
In the West Midlands, manufacturing provides 22.5 per cent of the employment, while accounting for 12.4 per cent in the South East, excluding London.
Alan Wilson, of OEF, told the Financial Times: If one thinks of a north-south divide, a line running from the Wash to the Bristol Channel is the border. South and east of that line growth is stronger than north and west of it."
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