Last week, there was genuine surprise amongst most economists when it was announced that the UK economy had grown by 0.3 per cent in the first three months of 2013. Many doomsayers had been talking down the prospects of growth and had predicted that we would fall into an unprecedented ‘triple dip recession’. Clearly that did not happen and we can now hope that this can be built upon over the rest of the year and that businesses and consumers will start feeling more positive about future prospects. However, it is worth noting that this growth was driven solely by an increase in the service sector, with manufacturing and construction contracting over the period. A high value added manufacturing industry is important to a competitive economy and therefore the lack of growth by Britain’s factories is worrying. However, given that around half of all exports are to the still depressed eurozone, this continuing decline should not be too surprising. Many will continue to be dismayed...
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