Mid-sized firms ‘could return more manufacturing to UK’

Britain could miss out on the chance to return more offshore manufacturing to the UK without greater support for mid-sized firms according to new research, writes The Engineer.

Increasing fuel costs, new technology and growing environmental concerns are fuelling a growing trend for manufacturing goods closer the countries where they are sold.

This trend could reduce the UK’s trade deficit by a third says a report from the Royal Society of Arts (RSA).

Without action – particularly to support those medium-sized firms that are small enough to adapt quickly but large enough to make significant investment – production could go to France or Germany, leaving Britain’s long-term manufacturing decline to continue, the study said.

Read more on this story at The Engineer