London has seen a bigger growth in GDP than other areas of the UK recently. (Picture: John Walton/PA Wire)
It’s safe to say that economic news for the United Kingdom has been mixed of late, to say the least.
While fears of a recession have been prevalent in both headlines and the minds of many of the public, the UK has avoided a technical recession in the newest economic data – albeit by the narrowest of margins.
In the latest figures published by the ONS (Office for National Statistics), the UK avoided recession (two consecutive quarters of negative growth) – but achieved no growth in Quarter 4 – October to December 2022.
While the country continues to go through an uncertain economic period, there was some good news for the various regions, with the London’s economy proving 2.7% bigger than it was pre-Covid.
Despite the government’s pledges to ‘level up’ various northern areas, London has historically outpaced other regions of the country in its economic output.
But which areas contribute the most to the country’s GDP?
Here is what you need to know.
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Which UK city brings in the most money?
Between 1998 and 2020, the ONS collected statistics for the output of various UK cities and areas.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it found London (and even London boroughs) outpaced other regions in the last year of data collection.
Two options for the GDP data were collected, city regions and local areas, with Gross Domestic Product measured at the current market prices of the time (in pounds, million).
Regarding the next set of figures to be released, the ONS told Metro.co.uk: ‘We plan to publish annual, balanced, regional GDP for 2021 in the Spring, with updates to these city regions data to follow afterwards.’
City Regions: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at 2020 market prices (pounds, million)
CR
Greater London Authority – 503,904
Greater Manchester Combined Authority – 82,743
West Midlands Combined Authority – 76,128
West Yorkshire Combined Authority – 63,691
Glasgow City Region – 52,888
Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region – 46,460
Cardiff Capital Region – 38,705
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority – 38,487
West of England Combined Authority – 35,471
Sheffield City Region – 31,732
Towards the bottom of the list, areas like the Scottish Island Councils, Derry-Londonderry City Region, and Growing Mid Wales had the lowest output.
LA
City of London – 86,997
Westminster – 74,024
Tower Hamlets – 38,715
Camden – 32,354
Birmingham – 30,579
Leeds – 28,953
Manchester – 26,361
City of Edinburgh – 25,705
Glasgow City – 24,573
Southwark – 21,486
Areas like the Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands, Merthyr Tydfil, and the Isle of Anglesey were found towards the bottom of the GDP list for 2020.
Source: ONS
Top 10 city regions by economy in 2020 (Picture: ONS/Metro.co.uk)
Which UK region has the biggest GDP growth?
The ONS currently measures GDP per region and country quarterly, with the last data collected between April – June 2022.
When it came to the four countries of the UK, Wales and Northern Ireland showed negative quarter-on-quarter growth, dropping by 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively, while England and Scotland stayed flat at 0.0%.
However, in the latest quarterly data, the ONS also looked at the nine regions that make up the UK. London had the most significant positive quarter-on-quarter growth at 1.2%, while the North East experienced the biggest drop at -1.6%
London’s figure was mainly driven by growth in the arts, entertainment and recreation, plus accommodation and food service activities sectors, experiencing growth in 10 of the 22 industries measured.
The ONS publish quarterly figures on regional growth. (Picture: ONS)
However, the North East only experience growth in eight of the sections measured, with the Electricity, gas, steam and air sector seeing negative growth of more than -6%.
All regions (and countries) of the UK showed positive GDP growth compared to the same quarter a year earlier.
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