General Elections - Institutions in the UK

Source: http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/elections-and-voting/general/

When Parliament is dissolved every seat in the House of Commons becomes vacant and a general election is held. Each constituency in the UK elects one Member of Parliament (MP) to a seat in the House of Commons. Usually the political party that wins the most seats in the House of Commons forms the Government.

• What is a general election?
• When was the last general election?
• Who becomes Prime Minister?
• Formation of a government following a general election
• 
  

What is a general election?

A general election is an opportunity for people in every part of the UK to choose their MP - the person who will represent their local area (constituency) in the House of Commons for up to five years.

There is normally a choice of several candidates in each constituency, some of which are the local candidates for national political parties. People can only vote for one of the candidates and the candidate that receives most votes becomes their MP.

When was the last general election?

The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 sets the interval between general elections at five years. At the end of this time a new House of Commons must be elected.

The date of the general election was 7 May 2015.

The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 provides for general elections to be held on the first Thursday in May every five years.

However, there are two provisions that trigger an election other than at five year intervals:

• a motion of no confidence is passed in Her Majesty's Government by a simple majority and 14 days elapses without the House passing a confidence motion in any new Government formed
• a motion for a general election is agreed by two thirds of the total number of seats in the Commons including vacant seats (currently 434 out of 650)

Previous to this Act, the Prime Minister could call a general election at any time within the five year period and not all Parliaments lasted the full five years.

Before 2011 a general election could be called earlier for a number of reasons. For example, the Prime Minister could decide to call an election at a time when he or she was most confident of winning the election (getting more MPs than any other party) or if a government was defeated on a confidence motion, a general election could follow.

Do general elections have to be held on Thursdays?

Not necessarily. The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 set the date of the last general election at Thursday 7 May 2015 and subsequent elections to be held on the first Thursday of May at five year intervals. However, if an earlier general election is triggered the Act does not state that the election has to be held on a Thursday.

Before the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 the Prime Minister could choose any weekday for a general election, according to a fixed electoral timetable. However, Thursday has become the traditional day for general elections.

The last general election not to be held on a Thursday was on Tuesday 27 October 1931.

Who becomes Prime Minister?

Can I vote for a new Prime Minister?

No. You can only vote to elect your local MP in a general election. Even if you live in the constituency represented by the current Prime Minister or the leader of another political party, you are still only voting on whether he or she will be your local MP in the next Parliament.

Who chooses the Prime Minister?

The Prime Minister is appointed by the Queen, who is guided by constitutional conventions.

• The British Monarchy: The Queen and Government (external site)

The Cabinet Manual sets out the main laws, rules and conventions affecting the conduct and operation of government, including the role of the Sovereign.

• GOV.UK: The Cabinet Manual (external site)

Formation of a government following a general election

Usually the political party that wins the most seats in the House of Commons at a general election forms the new government and its leader becomes Prime Minister.

If no party wins a majority of the seats, a situation which is known as a 'hung Parliament', then the largest party may form a minority government or there may be a coalition government of two or more parties. The Prime Minister appoints ministers who work in the government departments, the most senior of these sit in Cabinet.

• Read more about Parliament: Hung Parliament
• Read more about Parliament: Parliament and Government

Globalisation lottery hits UK cities

http://www.theguardian.com/society/joepublic/2008/sep/10/communities.regeneration

 

Greater global economic links are boosting some cities but hurting others. The government should target regeneration help on the hardest hit, says Dermot Finch

 

 

According to the government, Britain is "uniquely placed to succeed in the global economy". We're also "enthusiasts for globalisation", and global expansion is equated with "massive opportunity". We hear lots of positive rhetoric about globalisation benefiting the UK as a whole – which is spot on, at the national level. Look closer and there's a much more mixed picture from Reading to Bradford, from Milton Keynes to Stoke.
UK cities have been feeling the effects of globalisation for decades. We've seen a move away from a manufacturing to a service-based economy. Belfast lost 26% of its manufacturing jobs during the 1960s and employment at the city's iconic shipbuilding giant, Harland and Wolff, has dropped from 20,000 in the 1950s to just 120 today. While Liverpool's population has shrunk by 16% since the early 1980s, Milton Keynes has struck gold – its numbers have increased to 78% as the city's retail and logistics sectors boomed.
Some cities are just better placed than others to seize the opportunities of globalisation. With Reading's transport and trading links it's no surprise to hear that 40% of its workforce is employed in the top 20 exporting sectors, twice the proportion in Stoke and Doncaster. That's not to say that we're advocating a mass migration south (remember Policy Exchange's big splash last month with their Cities Unlimited report). Doncaster might not be growing at the same rate as Reading but that doesn't mean it can't flourish.
I'd like to see more realism from cities about their niche in the world economy. Not every city and town can be world class. In global terms UK cities are small, but their unique selling point is that they are located closely together. Sheffield, Liverpool, Bradford, Leeds and a host of other cities are all within a 40 mile radius around Manchester - the equivalent to London's travel to work area. To compete on a global stage, cities and towns need to collaborate with each other – working together to promote brands like "Greater Manchester" or "Greater Birmingham".
Politicians cannot and should not reverse the tide of global economic change but they can be more up front about it. Gordon Brown acknowledged in his foreword to autumn's Labour Party conference paper that economic restructuring, driven by globalisation has meant reduced security for lower skilled workers. The next step is to focus regeneration spending in cities on those hardest hit – by reskilling those whose jobs have disappeared as a result of offshoring or industrial decline. Let's look beyond fancy new city centre buildings and address some of the challenges globalisation presents for UK cities.

· Dermot Finch is the director of policy research unit Centre for Cities. Their report, UK Cities in the Global Economy, is available for download at centreforcities.org/globalisation



Bloody Sunday

More information about: Bloody Sunday

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/bloody_sunday

 

On the morning of Sunday 30 January 1972, around ten thousand people gathered in Londonderry for a civil rights march. The British Army had sealed off the original route so the march organisers led most of the demonstrators towards 'Free Derry Corner' in the nationalist Bogside area of the city. Despite this, a number of people continued on towards an army barricade where local youths threw stones at soldiers, who responded with a water cannon, CS gas and rubber bullets.
As the riot began to disperse, soldiers of the 1st Parachute Regiment were ordered to move in and arrest as many of the rioters as possible. In the minutes that followed, some of these paratroopers opened fire on the crowd, killing thirteen men and injuring 13 others, one of whom died some months later.
Free Derry
British troops had been sent into Derry as a peacekeeping force in August 1969 and had initially been welcomed by the predominantly Catholic nationalist community as a preferable alternative to what they saw as the discrimination of the local Northern Ireland security forces. The residents of the Bogside area of the city had declared it 'Free Derry' and refused to recognise the authority of the Northern Ireland government, led by a unionist majority that drew most of its support from the Protestant community.
Opposition to policies such as detention of terrorist suspects without trial (internment) and the alleged rigging of electoral wards to favour Protestant voters (gerrymandering) had inspired a nascent civil rights movement across Northern Ireland. With support for the demands of the civil rights movement so strong among local people, Derry was an obvious choice for a mass demonstration.
The events of Bloody Sunday
About ten thousand people gathered in the Creggan area of Derry on the morning of Sunday 30 January 1972. After prolonged skirmishes between groups of local youths and the army at barricades set up to prevent the march reaching its intended destination (Guildhall Square in the heart of the city), paratroopers moved in to make arrests. During this operation, they opened fire on the crowd, killing thirteen and wounding 13 others.
The dead were all male, aged between seventeen and forty-one. Another man, aged fifty-nine, died some months later from injuries sustained on that day. The wounded included a fifteen-year-old boy and a woman.
Reaction and inquiries
While the British Army maintained that its troops had responded after coming under fire, the people of the Bogside saw it as murder. The British government was sufficiently concerned for the Home Secretary to announce the following day an official inquiry into the circumstances of the shootings.
Opinion was further polarised by the findings of this tribunal, led by the British Lord Chief Justice, Lord Widgery. His report exonerated the army and cast suspicion on many of the victims, suggesting they had been handling bombs and guns. Relatives of the dead and the wider nationalist community campaigned for a fresh public inquiry, which was finally granted by then Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998.
Headed by Lord Saville, the Bloody Sunday Inquiry took 12 years and finally reported in 2010. It established the innocence of the victims and laid responsibility for what happened on the army.
Prime Minister David Cameron called the killings "unjustified and unjustifiable". The families of the victims of Bloody Sunday felt that the inquiry's findings vindicated those who were killed, raising the question of prosecutions and compensation.

State Opening of Parliament 2015

The State Opening of Parliament took place on Wednesday 27 May 2015. State Opening marks the formal start of the new 2015-16 parliamentary session. The primary purpose of this colourful state occasion is to set out the Government's legislative agenda in the Queen's Speech.

The State Opening of Parliament is the most colourful event of the Parliamentary year.

It is also the most important, because it brings together the three elements of the legislature (the House of Commons, the House of Lords and The Queen). The ceremony therefore represents the Crown in Parliament.

As Head of State, it is the duty of The Queen formally to open each new session of Parliament.

Her Majesty has only missed two Opening of Parliament ceremonies during her reign. The first time was in 1959 when she was pregnant with Prince Andrew and the second in 1963 when she was expecting Prince Edward.

After the introduction of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, the State Opening of Parliament takes place every year in May.T

 Before The Queen travels to Parliament from Buckingham Palace, certain traditional precautions are observed.

A detachment of The Queen's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard searches the cellars of the Houses of Parliament.

This tradition dates back to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, when Guy Fawkes was arrested whilst preparing to blow up Parliament. Today, the Yeomen of the Guard continue this historic search, in addition to the security checks by police.

Another tradition is the 'hostage' MP, a Government whip who is held at Buckingham Palace to guarantee the safe return of the monarch.
The custom dates back to centuries when the monarch and Parliament were on less cordial terms.

Once these precautions have been taken, The Queen travels from Buckingham Palace in a State coach to the Palace of Westminster, usually accompanied by The Duke of Edinburgh.

The Imperial State Crown travels in its own carriage, ahead of The Queen, escorted by Members of the Royal Household.

On arrival, The Queen puts on the Imperial State Crown and her parliamentary robe ready for the ceremony itself. This takes place in the House of Lords.

Some 250 representatives of the House of Commons are summoned by Black Rod, who acts as The Queen's Messenger.

By tradition, the door of the House of Commons is slammed in Black Rod's face. It is then reopened to enable Black Rod to convey the Sovereign's summons to the Speaker.

This tradition is a reminder of the right of the Commons to exclude everyone but the Sovereign's messengers.

No monarch has set foot in the Commons since Charles I entered the Commons and tried to arrest five Members of Parliament in 1642.

Spectators can view the procession to Parliament from Buckingham Palace in The Mall and Whitehall.

The ceremony is also broadcast live on BBC television.

SOURCE:  OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE BRITISH MONARCHY
http://www.royal.gov.uk/RoyalEventsandCeremonies/StateOpeningofParliament/State%20Opening%20of%20Parliament.aspx

Scottish devolution: What next for Scotland?

SOURCE: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-32810553

As the new majority Conservative government gets down to business, the BBC's Hayley Jarvis looks at the plan for Scotland and what might happen next.

 27 May 2015

What powers are heading to the Scottish Parliament?

 WATCH THE VIDEO

During the election campaign Conservative leader David Cameron pledged to give more powers to Scotland within 100 days of winning the election. He promised to create "the strongest devolved government anywhere in the world with important powers over taxation".
These new powers for Scotland were outlined in the Queen's Speech.
The Scotland Bill will be based on recommendations made by the Smith Commission - the cross-party group formed after the independence referendum to look at what additional powers might be handed to Scotland.
If the legislation makes it over the usual parliamentary hurdles, new powers will include;

• setting income tax rates and bands
• controlling a proportion of VAT raised in Scotland
• fully controlling air passenger duty
• creating new benefits in devolved areas and making discretionary welfare payments
• managing the assets of the Crown Estate

In addition, the Scottish Parliament has already been given the power to extend voting to 16 and 17 year olds in time for the 2016 Scottish Parliamentary elections.


Is everyone happy with the proposals?

WATCH THE VIDEO

The Scotland Bill will be based on draft legislation, or a "command paper", which was published by the previous Tory/Lib Dem coalition government in January. But a committee of MSPs at Holyrood, where the SNP is in government, said the powers plan "fell short" of recommendations made by Smith Commission.
SNP leader and Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had called for a new Scotland Bill that would go beyond Smith.
She wants additional powers, including control of:

• National Insurance
• the minimum wage
• Corporation Tax
• full control of welfare and employment
• trade union law

None of these feature in the forthcoming Bill which is one of 21 proposed by the majority Conservative government.
Nevertheless, the Scottish government will be seeking assurances that UK ministers cannot veto any of the powers already promised to Scotland in the draft legislation, such as changes to benefits.
Full fiscal autonomy - the responsibility for all areas of tax and spending except defence and foreign affairs - remains a key goal for the SNP, but not yet.
During an interview on the BBC's Andrew Marr, Ms Sturgeon said she would be pressing the Prime Minster to give Scotland greater financial control, but "clearly that will take a number of years to implement".

Why is it important that David Cameron delivers on this?

Just two days before people in Scotland cast their votes in the Scottish independence referendum, the leaders of the three Unionist parties - David Cameron (Conservatives); Ed Miliband (Labour) and Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrats) - made a public "vow" to give Holyrood more powers.
On 18 September 2014, the electorate voted 55% to 45% against independence and Mr Cameron promised the day after the referendum that if he won the 2015 General Election he would deliver the "vow".

Would David Cameron go further in the future?

The general election saw the SNP win 56 of Scotland's 59 Westminster seats which prompted party leader Ms Sturgeon to pledge that her MPs would provide the loudest ever voice for Scots in the House of Commons.
Following the election, Mr Cameron met with Ms Sturgeon who called their talks "constructive and business like".
While the PM has said he would look at "sensible suggestions" for more powers, he has given no indication he would go beyond Smith.
The new Scottish Secretary David Mundell has also said he believed the Smith proposals were the "right package" for the country.
He too signalled the UK government would be prepared to listen to calls for more powers, but as part of usual parliamentary procedures.

What's the story for England, Wales and Northern Ireland? 

WATCH THE VIDEO
 
After the Scottish independence referendum, Mr Cameron made a speech outside No 10 Downing Street in which he said the UK needed, not only a new deal for Scotland, but for the "millions of voices in England" to be heard. So, what has happened since September last year?

• ENGLAND - Before the election, Mr Cameron tasked the then Leader of the Commons William Hague to draw up plans enabling only English MPs to vote on English matters. During the election campaign, Mr Cameron pledged that an English rate of income tax would feature in the first budget of new Conservative government. This Queen's Speech outlined that changes would be made to the standing orders of the House of Commons -basically the rules that govern the way laws are passed - ensuring that only MPs representing English constituencies could vote on legislation affecting England alone.
• WALES - The new government's programme details further devolution of powers to Wales, including a new reserved powers model to clarify the division of powers between the Welsh Assembly and parliament. The assembly will also be given more powers over energy, transport and local government elections in Wales.
• NORTHERN IRELAND - Devolution of powers has been suspended and reinstated several times since its Assembly was created following the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. It has control over areas such as agriculture, education, health and social services, economic development and the environment and in March 2010 an agreement was passed to transfer powers of justice and policing. Although there is no big devolved power heading to Northern Ireland, a Bill is in the pipeline which will provide for full and independent investigations into "unsolved Troubles-related deaths".

North-south divide slides down the map

Source: http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Society/article371097.ece

North of the divide, people earn less, die at least a year earlier on average and get a worse education for their children

Jonathan Leake and Kevin DowlingPublished: 15 August 2010

 

 

The north-south divide, Britain’s traditional social and economic barrier, is getting more stark — and it may be creeping further south.

 

Researchers have drawn the divide as a clear diagonal line bisecting the country from Gloucester, just south of the line, to Grimsby, at its northeastern end.

Analysis of data including average incomes, house prices, life expectancy and levels of education shows that the gap between the two regions has grown wider in the recession.

It had been expected that the banking crisis, with its devastating effect on the financial services industry, which is mostly concentrated in London and the southeast, would narrow regional differences.

Instead the government bailouts of banks — valued by some at £1.3 trillion — have greatly benefited the south as the money has trickled out into the wider economy.

G20 protests: Thousands flood into City of London

The Guardian online 01 Apr 2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/g20-summit/5088747/G20-protests-Thousands-flood-into-City-of-London.html


G20 summit protesters have clashed with police after crowds flooded into central London as world leaders prepare to discuss the global economic meltdown.

G20 demonstrators march in London

 

BBC News Saturday, 28 March 2009

Link to the video here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7968721.stm

Tens of thousands of people have marched through London demanding action on poverty, climate change and jobs, ahead of next week's G20 summit.

The Put People First alliance of 150 charities and unions walked from Embankment to Hyde Park for a rally.

Speakers called on G20 leaders to pursue a new kind of global justice.

Police estimate 35,000 marchers took part in the event. Its organisers say people wanted the chance to air their views peacefully.

Protesters described a "carnival-like atmosphere" with brass bands, piercing whistles and stereos blasting music as the slow-paced procession weaved through the streets.

Police said one man was arrested during the march for being drunk and disorderly.



Can de-industrialisation be reversed?

 

Linda Yueh  Chief business correspondent

• 16 February 2015
• http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31495851
   

 

Image caption For advanced economies manufacturing tends to become less important               

 

A new study from the Brookings Institution argues that American prosperity is being driven by advanced industries. It raises the question as to whether de-industrialisation can be reversed.

It's a refrain that has been heard frequently in the US and the UK after the financial crisis: there's a desire to rebalance the economy away from banking and towards making things once again.
Made in America, Made in Britain, Designed in Britain are among the phrases heard from governments and businesses after the worst recession in a century.
De-industrialisation is when industry counts for less than services in the economy. When countries grow, they tend to industrialise, so they move out of agriculture and into manufacturing, which has higher productivity and wages.
Industrialisation, and indeed the Industrial Revolution, is how countries become middle class, and some become rich.

Inequality

But, for advanced economies, manufacturing starts to become less important as a share of output once they become prosperous. Business services, retail, and finance start to dominate, and workers move out of factories and into offices or stores.
This process is associated with a loss of good, blue collar jobs, increased inequality, and less innovation since most research goes into industrial production.
But, reversing de-industrialisation is challenging. Emerging economies like China can produce more cheaply and information and communications technology (ICT) has lowered the costs of logistics, so that globalisation makes it harder for rich nations to compete with lower cost producers.
In fact, Dani Rodrik of Harvard points to pre-mature de-industrialisation for some developing countries which are moving from agriculture to services, which holds worrying consequences for countries that have yet to gain a firm foothold in the middle income strata.

Recovery

So, can it be done?
According to the Brookings Institution, advanced industries - hi-tech manufacturing and skilled services - where one fifth of employees have STEM - science, technology, engineering and maths skills - have led the US recovery.
Advanced industries have grown 30% faster than GDP since 1980. Since the 2009 recession, they have added one million jobs. Even more remarkably, advanced services have created almost two thirds of all of the new jobs during the recovery.
In an era of slow wage growth, advanced industries also report earnings growth that is five times faster than the average for the US.
And they are a fast-growing part of the economy. Adding $2.7 trillion to GDP, advanced industries are the biggest part of the American economy, accounting for 17% of GDP - that's more than finance, health care, or real estate. These industries account for approximately one quarter of all US employment.

Image caption Staying in the US makes more sense for manufacturers thanks to a raft of falling costs

Automation

But, manufacturing jobs are still about two million below their 2007 levels, according to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, and they attribute the resurgence to a rebound from the depths of the recession.
That was echoed by Matt Murray, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee. He forecasts that manufacturing jobs will decline after 2017 and return to the long-term, downward trend. It's because of overseas competition but it is also due to automation, so that more output can be made with fewer workers.
That's consistent with the long-term trend where American industrial output has increased with some ups and downs since 1950 in absolute terms, but has shrunk as a share of GDP since services has grown relatively more quickly.
After all, the United States is the second largest manufacturer in the world with about $2trn in annual output, only losing its crown to China a few years ago.
But, manufacturing jobs have declined since 1980. After rising from 13 million in 1950 to peak at nearly 20 million in 1980, 2010 saw a drop to a historic low of about 11.5 million. So, the impressive rebound since then still takes employment to around 12.3 million, which is the lowest in the post-war period, lower than in 1950.

Growth

It's a similar pattern in the UK. Around 2.6 million people work in manufacturing, a figure that has halved since the late 1970s. Now, manufacturing accounts for 8% of jobs, down from a quarter of all jobs in 1978.
Manufacturing accounts for about 10% of national output, having dropped by about one third in the late 1970s. But, like the US, British manufacturing has grown in in absolute size over the past few decades.
Although hard hit in the last recession, Britain is still the seventh largest manufacturer in the world and the bulk of R&D spending, more than 70%, goes into the sector.
Compared with its share of GDP, manufacturing makes an outsized contribution to exports, accounting for nearly half of British exports. The UK still imports more manufactured goods than it exports, so there is a trade deficit.
But, the industries that sell overseas are also in advanced sectors, so technology, R&D and STEM workers constitute the new face of manufacturing too.
But, unlike the US, there hasn't been a rebound in manufacturing jobs in high-tech sectors like chemicals, pharmaceuticals, or automobiles. Only the aerospace industry has had some job growth since 2007.
Also, labour productivity, that is output per worker, is low. Britain ranks above the world average, but lags other countries like the US as well as Germany.

Middle class

I've written before about the lack of STEM workers being an impediment for UK employers who believe that it could be a brake on economic growth.
Plus, there are other favourable factors that have boosted US manufacturing such as the shale energy revolution that have lowered costs. So, even if wages in the US are higher than emerging markets, for car companies where labour costs are only 10% of the total, other costs falling in America makes re-shoring or bringing production back to the US look appealing. Besides, wages are rising in not just China but also other emerging economies that have joined the middle class in droves.
So, is it possible to reverse the trend of de-industrialisation?
Even if output grows, employment will likely face pressure from robotics and technology.
Plus, even with the resurgence in the US, manufacturing is unlikely to become the biggest part of the economy.
But, economic growth can be boosted by new engines, such as advanced industries.
There are signs that it is happening in the US. And there are lessons for Britain and other advanced economies looking to re-balance their drivers of economic growth.
 

UK Manufacturing Statistics

 SOURCE: http://www.themanufacturer.com/uk-manufacturing-statistics/

Manufacturing contributes £6.7tr to the global economy. Contrary to common belief, UK manufacturing is strong with the UK currently the 11th largest manufacturing nation in the world. Manufacturing makes up 11% of UK GVA and 54% of UK exports and directly employs 2.6 million people.

Despite the decline since the 1970s, when manufacturing contributed 25% of UK GDP, the UK ranks second globally in aerospace manufacturing. In the half-year from January to June 2014, the UK-based car industry had its best year in new car sales in 9 years.

1.28 million new cars were sold during the period, a rise of 10% compared to the same period in 2013. While the chemical and pharmaceutical industries add £20m per day to the UK balance of trade. Underpinning these important statistics is an average annual productivity increase of 3.6% – two and a half times greater than the UK economy as a whole.
While the contribution of manufacturing to GDP has declined on paper, many of the services provided to manufacturers which would have once been considered part of manufacturing, such as catering, cleaning, building services, security etc, are now allocated into different areas of the economy. However, those contributions are directly reliant on manufacturing for continued business and could actually be considered as a part of manufacturing’s GDP input.

Rank	Country/Region	(Millions of $US)	Year
	World	11,185,841	2011
1	China	2,330,684	2011
	European Union	2,312,723	2013
2	United States	1,800,500	2011
	Eurozone	1,793,895	2013
3	Japan	1,073,277	2012
4	Germany	710,951	2013
5	South Korea	370,393	2013
6	Italy	284,477	2013
7	Russia	266,692	2013
8	Brazil	250,149	2013
9	France	249,074	2013
10	India	223,138	2013
11	United Kingdom	219,036	2013
12	Mexico	215,689	2013
13	Indonesia	205,768	2013
14	Canada	169,120	2008
15	Spain	166,142	2013
16	Thailand	127,569	2013
17	Turkey	125,598	2013
18	Switzerland	113,481	2012
19	Australia	104,056	2013
20	Netherlands	91,602	2013

Countries by Manufacturing output using the most recent known data thanks to The World Bank and Wikipedia.

UK Balance of Trade

UK Manufacturing 2014 – The Facts

Every two years manufacturers’ organisation EEF publishes a fact card covering manufacturing GVA, employment, the % of manufacturing in the region’s economies, Britain’s place in the global manufacturing league table, R&D spending and more.
EEF (The Manufacturers’ Organisation) Manufacturing Facts and Figures

Statistics by Sector

British Aerospace Industry

Beth Pickering, Airbus in the UK, Broughton

• 100,000+ direct jobs in UK Aerospace
• ADS has over 850 members (from SMEs to globals)
• Annual earnings = £24.2bn
• Revenue: £12.4bn
• 75% of turnover to export markets
• 17% global market share

British Automotive Industry

A worker at the Jaguar Land Rover plant helps put together a Range Rover Evoque.

• More than 550 UK members of SMMT
• £6bn investment in past two years
• 2.6 million cars registered in the UK 2013
• Two out of the top 10 selling cars for 2013, the Vauxhall Astra (4th) and the Nissan Qashqai (6th), are made in the UK, while the Ford Fiesta was the UK’s best selling car.
• 1.58m vehicles (81% exported) and 2.5m engines (62% exported) made in the UK last year
• 2,350 automotive suppliers in UK, employing 82,000 people
• Typically £55bn annual turnover
• £27bn revenue in 2011
• 720,000 employed across automotive industry, 140,000 directly employed in manufacturing
• More than 75,000 young people employed as apprentices over the last 5 years. 18,000 in automotive retail at any one time

British Chemical Industry

The Baker Hughes Eco-Centre facility can process in excess of 30,000 tonnes (33,000 tons) of drill cuttings and 14,000 cubic meters (3.7 million gallons) of liquid waste, or slops, annually.

• £60bn revenue in 2012
• 600,000 people are currently employed in the industry
• Represents 15% of UK manufacturing GVA
• Has an average employee cost of £42,000 per head
• Added £20m to the UK balance of trade every day for the last twenty years

(Information courtesy of http://www.cia.org.uk)

British Construction Industry

Spiral Construction are the UK’s leading manufacturer of spiral and helical staircases and have been nominated by Andrew George, Liberal Democrat MP for St Ives

• 1 in 14 of the UK workforce is employed in construction – nearly 2 million people
• Provides 88,000 new job opportunities yearly
• Employs just under 200,000 women in the sector
• More than 35% of construction employees run their own companies
• More than a quarter of employers have recruited a school leaver in the last 2-3 years
• Nearly 50% of employers in the building services engineering industry take part in the modern apprenticeship scheme

British Defence Industry

BAE Systems Ambush submarine.

• £35bn annual UK turnover
• The UK is the world’s second biggest defence exporter behind the US
• Employs 300,000 overall in the UK
• 9,000 defence companies including small businesses exist in the UK
• BAE Systems – the UK’s largest defence company – currently employs 40,000 domestically
• 10% of UK manufacturing is made up by defence

British Electronics Industry

A British firm has made the world’s largest all-electric pipe bender.

• Worth £78bn a year
• Is the world’s fifth largest in terms of production
• Employs over 850,000 people
• This makes up 2.9% of the UK’s workforce
• In semiconductors, almost 80% of the activity comes from foreign direct investment
• The UK is home to 40% of Europe’s semiconductor design houses

British Food & Drink Industry

Cadbury Fingers in production.

• Turnover of £76bn in 2012, the UK’s largest manufacturing sector
• Accounts for 15% of all UK manufacturing GVA
• Employs 400,000 workers domestically, 15% of manufacturing workforce
• Exports over £12bn of food and non-alcoholic drink products a year, 77% of which go to the EU
• Invested over £1bn in to R&D in 2011, resulting in over 8,500 new products
• Businesses have reduced rate of injuries by over 50% over the last 20 years

(Information courtesy of http://www.fdf.org.uk)

British Furniture Industry

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg hammers a nail into a piece of furniture during a visit to The Chesterfield Company in Salford.

• Over 100,000 employees within the trade
• UK market set to surpass £15bn by 2018
• £10.73bn revenue in 2012
• 7.5% of overall furniture sales are made online, a figure which is increasing
• Living room furniture dominates the market share by as much as 90%

(Information courtesy of The Chesterfield Company)

British Plastics Industry

The ECO Plastics sorting facility.

• 7,500 companies in the sector
• £19bn turnover
• Exports valued at £6.7bn
• 35% of manufactured plastics products exported
• Employs 180,000 people
• 2.5m tonnes of plastics materials produced annually

(Information courtesy of http://www.bpf.co.uk)

British Steel Industry

An artist’s impression of Man of Steel sculpture, South Yorkshire

• Contributed £2.9bn to the UK balance of trade in 2011
• More waste steel is recovered in the UK and recycled than all other materials combined
• Each tonne of scrap recycled by the industry saves 1.9 tonnes of iron ore and 0.6 tonnes of coal

(Stats courtesy of http://www.scrib.org.uk)

British Textile Industry

(l-r) Ashley Wild, Joanne Williamson, Stewart McGuffie (Allied Textiles’ chief executive) and Steven McGawn.

• Comprises over 79,000 businesses, employing over 340,000 people
• Gross value added for the sector in the UK is estimated at over £11.5 billion, with GVA per head measured at an average of £34,220

- See more at: http://www.themanufacturer.com/uk-manufacturing-statistics/#sthash.CzCAVwCn.dpuf