Economy News

Manufacturing jobs to return to UK

The changing economics of manufacturing is likely to lead to thousands of manufacturing jobs returning to UK shores having been outsourced overseas in recent decades, a new report has concluded.

Currently there are approximately 2.5 million people employed in manufacturing in the UK, a sector which accounts for 10.5% of economic output.

Budget 2013 - Summary and Reaction

In the Chancellor’s own words on his new Twitter account this morning, this was to be a budget that “tackles the economy's problems head on helping those who want to work hard [and] get on".

Amongst his first announcements was an admittance that  growth forecasts had been cut, with just a 0.6% increase in GDP expected in 2013. This is half of the prediction (1.2%) made in last year’s Autumn Statement.

But what was in George Osborne’s red box to help small businesses and SMEs assist with economic growth?

Budget 2013 – Rise in fuel duty?

Thousands of small firms across the UK could see their annual fuel bill rise by up to £4,000, if the proposed 3p rise in fuel duty is given the green light in the Budget 2013.

Figures from Lex Autolease indicate that a typical SME or haulier running a fleet of approximately 20 vans each covering 30,000 miles per year could see fuel costs rise by more than £300 a month in September due to the planned fuel duty hike.

Budget 2013 - CBI calls for housing and infrastructure boost

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has called for George Osborne to use the Budget 2013 to boost house building and prioritise infrastructure projects across the UK.

Following on from the Federation of Small Business’ (FSB) requests last week, the CBI has recommended a £1.25bn investment into housing and infrastructure. This would mean pressing ahead with an extensive roads repair, maintenance and improvement programme as well as adding 50,000 affordable homes to the housing stock.

Solid service sector performance points to growth

The UK’s service sector performed above expectations in February and grew at its fastest pace for almost half a year, the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) figures have shown.

The PMI figure came in at 51.8, with anything above 50 indicating growth in the sector. It rose +0.3 on January’s performance and was above expectations of 5.10 by economists.

With the sector making up more than 75% of the UK economy, it now looks likely that there will be growth in Q1 despite less positive news coming from manufacturing and construction PMIs.

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