Despite Brexit and the government, British manufacturing is doing well

IN A RECENT survey of the British public, respondents were asked where they believed the country ranked in the global manufacturing league table. The median answer, 43rd, was a little wide of the mark. The latest comparable data, for 2021, make Britain the world’s eighth-biggest manufacturer, up one place from 2020 and (better still) overtaking France.You might have supposed the past decade to have been hard for British factories. The Brexit referendum in 2016 begat four years of uncertainty, followed by a trade deal that introduced friction to a formerly near-frictionless border. The covid-19 pandemic ruptured global supply chains. Then a spike in energy prices pushed up costs in what remains an energy-hungry sector.