Winter in Britain can be pretty bleak and grey; no wonder many want to leave. But British ingenuity has designed this all-year round strawberry growing facility. Artificial light powered by renewable energy and this impressive mechanism ensures the plants get optimal access to light. No more expensive imports, no need for pesticides or even backbreaking migrant labour. Because let’s be honest, few native British workers aspire to work in farms picking fruit.
Now, a cynic might point out billionaire James Dyson got into farming to avoid inheritance tax, but cynicism aside, this is the kind of innovation Britain is still good at like the world’s only rotating boat lift in Falkirk, Scotland.
Subscribers
When I asked my subscribers what they thought Britain was still good at. The top four answers were “Shafting the mugs who pay taxes”, making a mess of infrastructure projects, wasting talent, pessimism and roast potatoes. So who would have thought the best thing about Britain is British food? I think comedy and sarcasm were also pretty high up on the list too. But talking of potatoes, one great British institution is the allotment, grow your own, it’s at least one way to avoid food inflation and empty shelves.
Innovation
The UK has a long history of innovation – Alexander Fleming and penicillin, John Logie Baird and the TV. Tim Berners Lee and the world wide web. And it is noteworthy Berners Lee gave away the world wide web for free.
These days with good academic research, the UK has a strong bio-tech sector, which has seen rapid growth in the past 15 years a major destination for venture capital funding.
The UK is very good at early stage innovation, but it is less successful at taking to market, with large US firms tending to dominate. It’s a similar story with the tech industry. The UK had developed good ideas. Deep Mind was a pioneer of AI, but in 2014, it was sold to Google for £400m. In fact, the UK being bought up by foreign private equity is a growing trend. At least the finance sector gets a commission.
But life science and biotech are a source of growth, especially in the Oxford – Cambridge London corridor, which has good universities and skilled labour. According to QS world rankings, 4 out of the top 10. The only problem is that we are trying to grow the economy in tiny cities where housing costs are over 11 times average wages. There is potential for growth but who can afford to live there?
Northern Arc
But, whilst investment decisions have often focused on the south, the UK has huge untapped potential in the north. The northern arc is an area around Liverpool and Manchester, extending across to Leeds if there were better transport links. This is an area of great innovation and economic diversity. It also much cheaper housing costs. Whilst a family in Cambridge may set you back £1.3million. You can get a house in New Brighton on the Wirral for £300,000. Relatively cheap housing but still good enough rail links to get into major cities.
Victorian Capacity
If we can forget about HS2 for a moment, ironically Britain is still kind of benefiting from the Victorian capacity to build things. The Victorians built many of the reservoirs and sewers we still use today. They even correctly anticipated a future increase in capacity, the kind of long-term planning which isn’t so fashionable today. True, health and safety was somewhat more lax in those days and Brunel didn’t have to contend with legislation to protect bats on the great western railway but they did build an enormous rail network in record time. We did our best to destroy the rail network in the 1960s, but despite cutbacks, privatisation, and leaves on the line, passenger numbers have reached record levels. British railways is not the envy of the world anymore, in the time taking to build 220km of HS2, China has built literally tens of thousands of kms at a fraction of the cost. But,no matter how much China builds and manufacturers who would willingly swap a life in Broken Britain for surveillance state China?
But going back to the Victorians, in a time of wealth, the country built bridges, reservoirs, railways and buildings which are still helping today. Of course, we had a manic period of demolishing some of these beautiful Victorian buildings with modern monstrosities like Euston Station, but the worst excesses of modernist architecture have been curtailed. The modern skyline of London is actually pretty impressive. Though, if you scan away from London to the left behind towns, the high street can be more of a depressing collection of empty shops, pawnbrokers and gambling shops, with about the highest value coming from Poundshops. The high street has seen better days. But we’ll leave that for another day
Top Exports
If we look at statistics, the UK’s top exports are cars, power generators, pharmaceuticals and aircraft. Rolls Royce engines for aeroplanes are some of the UK’s best high end manufacturing. The UK car industry was a bit of a joke in the 1970s, but investment from Germany and Japan helped turn it around, with the likes of the Nissan in Sunderland, and Jaguar Land Rover in the West Midlands. But, despite being the UK’s top export, the UK car industry has had a torrid few years, with production well down, hit by Brexit, declining competitiveness and high energy costs.
The UK’s top export destinations are Europe and the US. Good job, we didn’t damage our access to the single market on our doorstep. Especially, since Mr Tariff Man has somewhat curtailed the dream of a US free trade deal. But, this video is an effort to be more positive, let us not forget the bonanza of negotiating free trade deals with Fiji, Australia and New Zealand. This latest free trade deal will boost GDP by 0.3% by 2035. The great British free trade economists Adam Smith and David Ricardo will be proud.
Biggest Employers
The biggest employer is the NHS over 2 million people in 2024. A cynic might argue this reflect the fact Britain is an increasingly unhealthy place. But, for all the stresses, waiting lists and complaints, the NHS still provides a decent universal service under difficult conditions. The second biggest employer is the department for work and pensions, we nearly have as many civil servants for welfare as people in the British Army.
Music
But, trade isn’t just about goods, the UK’s speciality is really in more intangible cultural exports and here the UK still retains an outsize influence. The Beatles changed the world, and UK music is still a growth area decades later. In 2023, it added £7.6 billion of Gross value added to the UK economy, 13% growth from previous year. Exports were £4.6 billion. Not bad for an age of free digital downloads.
Comedy
British comedy is another successful export. Everything from Mr Bean to Fawlty Towers and Blackadder. The economy may be failing, and the economy going to pot, but rather than riot, the British papers turn the Prime Minster into a lettuce to see which will last the longest. It was actually the lettuce which won in the end. In fact, for all the discontent bubbling under the surface, Britain is a relatively stable country with stable institutions. The last revolution was 1688 and it was more about a new king from Holland than any actual fighting. Britons like to complain but on some metrics like corruption, liberty and stable civic society, the UK ranks relatively well. Some may feel this long tradition of free speech is under threat with the police these days seemingly more enthusiastic about checking tweets, placards and What’s app message than catching the common thief. But, in terms of historical and international comparison, it’s still pretty good.
English
Another lucky legacy for Britain is the English language. Teaching English to foreign students is a booming business. The UK benefits from English as global language. And English literature has been a major export from Shakespeare to Tolkien and Harry Potter.
The Premier league is another huge global export; it is the richest league in the world and getting richer every year. £6.3bn in 2023/24 season. Now 80% of managers, 75% of owners and 66% of players are foreigners. But at least it is the English supporter which gets to pay the ever rising ticket prices to watch the games in flesh.
Offshore Wind
The UK is a global leader in offshore wind, it built the world’s second floating off-shore wind farm. It has the 2nd highest off-shore wind generation after China. It is just a shame the broken UK energy market with one national price, means the UK has wasted £655 million this year in paying wind farms to turning off wind and buying electricity from gas powered stations. It seems you can have too much of a good thing.
Finance Sector
Another undeniable great strength of the UK economy is finance, mostly based in London. The Financial sector is worth £281bn, and in 2023 had a trade surplus of £73.2bn. The industry paid £110bn of taxes, making up 9% of government receipts. It’s not without drawbacks like money laundering, inequality and rising asset prices. And since Brexit, London has lost jobs to Europe and increasingly firms are wanting to list in New York rather than London. But, it has become a critical part of the economy.
Sources
https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/heseltine-institute/blog/therealityofthenorthernarc/
https://www.lbc.co.uk/crime/whatsapp-row-messages-revealed-police-raid-school-parents-home/
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-trade-in-numbers/uk-trade-in-numbers-web-version
https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/civil-service-staff-numbers
https://countryeconomy.com/business/motor-vehicle-production/uk
https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/civil-service-staff-numbers
https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/heseltine-institute/blog/therealityofthenorthernarc/