“The UK has the best economy in Europe right now,” according to economist Dennis Turner speaking at the BAPC Conference this past weekend. “People worried that bumping along the bottom was the new normal, but then 2013 showed things are getting better and that things are coming right for [Chancellor of the Exchequer, George] Osborne.
He warned: “There are still bumps in the road ahead. We need to rebalance the economy and we need to refocus on manufacturing as a key to Britain’s recovery. Manufacturing was actually growing up to 2007, which was the best year ever for the UK manufacturing industry, but then it dipped and investment faltered.
“We need to get confidence back. People used to understand what manufacturing was, but the face of manufacturing has changed. Where it was about cheap, now it’s about being smart. What we produce is with fewer firms and people than before, but there’s a lot more money in the products we are producing now.”