UK manufacturing confident of filling up “growth gap”

Britain's manufacturing industry is confident of filling up the "growth gap" even as its public sector shrinks. According to the Engineering Employers Federation (EEF) its members – 6,000 industrial companies of all sizes were "well placed" to respond to the prime minister's call to "create and innovate; invest and grow".

Following the worst downturn in three-quarters of a century, industry has benefited from a 25 per cent depreciation of sterling since its peaks in 2007, and according to most business surveys business confidence and export orders reflected a mood of optimism.

Analysts say this would bring cheer to those in the Treasury and the Bank of England most concerned about the "rebalancing" of the economy away from consumption and towards investment and exports.

However, according to the EEF, British industry would benefit from a government strategy that helped overcome the growth barriers that companies faced and to grow the next generation of large global players. The industry's latest report, The Shape of British Industry, comes ahead of the government's forthcoming White Paper on boosting economic growth.

According to the EEF the "sophisticated, successful sector" is growing at the fastest rate since 1994.

Its chief executive, Terry Scuoler, commented: "Whilst the current attention on young businesses and start-ups is helpful, we must not ignore the wider benefits to the economy that larger companies bring. The UK doesn't just need a handful of larger companies over the next decade; we need hundreds of them with the scale and muscle to tackle our economic challenges. Otherwise we risk placing a speed limit on our growth potential."