“UK’s Size Creates Wealth by “Punching Above Our Weight”

A major claim by the UK has been it enjoys “the fastest growth in the G7. This statement is true for the last year but ignores the fact that the UK economy shrank more than other G7 members when Covid hit and therefore had the furthest to recover.  The World Bank forecast for the next year is that UK will grow the slowest among G7 members, if at all.

Looking back pre-pandemic, the argument that UK’s size brought prosperity does not hold water. Comparison with some rich countries  is shown in the table below.

Source: https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/gdp_per_capita_ppp/G7/

Within the UK itself, economic disparity among regions and nations is worsening, despite three years of “leveling-up”. Of the dozen regions and nations of the UK some of the most glaring disparities are shown in the table below. Although comparisons between the tables cannot be made directly, rough comparisons show disadvantages regions and nations in the UK performing 30-50% below small European countries.

Source: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/bulletins/regionaleconomicactivitybygrossdomesticproductuk/1998to2018

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