London is at forefront of UK recovery

New figures from the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) show London is leading the UK’s continued economic improvement.

As a major business and finance hub for not only the UK but all of Europe, England’s capital plays a major role in the nation’s growth.

As the figures show from RBS’s latest Regional Growth Tracker, London is at the forefront of the economic recovery. The city grew by around 3.7 per cent in the third quarter of this year, well above the national average.

Services sector and high-end business help to fuel economic expansion.

RBS found that the services sector is responsible for the bulk of the UK’s growth, with the strongest-performing sectors being professional, scientific and medical, administration and support, and distribution and transport sectors.

London lies at the heart of many of these industries, with Inner London East demonstrating the most impressive growth. Since this area includes Canary Wharf, the Shoreditch tech hub, and a good chunk of the City, it’s clear that a boom in high-end business services is also fuelling economic expansion alongside services.

Competition from other regions demonstrates an encouraging economic performance nationwide.

At an estimated growth of 3.5 per cent, the East Midlands region was a close competitor for the top spot, with East Derbyshire expanding at 4.1 per cent. Growth came on the back of the wholesale and retail trade as well as administrative and support services, showing that the economy is working differently but no less effectively outside of London.

In addition, the south-east and east of England both demonstrated growth of more than three per cent, though this is seen as an extension of the rapid growth in the capital.