Post-referendum Britain is enjoying more good news, as the aerospace sector hits new highs and the railways look set for substantial investment.
The Aerospace Defence Security Group (ADS) valued deliveries in the third quarter at up to £7 billion, bringing their total value for the year so far to £20 billion and putting the sector on course to top a record-breaking 2016, City A.M. reports.
“This has been a strong three months for the global aerospace industry and for UK manufacturers,” said ADS chief executive Paul Everitt.
“Following the annual record for deliveries set in 2016 there has been no slackening in the pace of production this year and we expect to see rates continuing to rise in the years ahead.”
Order books are around 50 per cent fuller than five years ago and production rates some 30 per cent higher, leaving City A.M.‘s correspondent to conclude that the industry’s future “looks rosy”.
Meanwhile, Rail Delivery Group chief executive Paul Plummer has revealed that Network Rail, railways companies, and various suppliers are drawing up plans which “will deliver the railway that the economy, customers and communities need as Britain prepares to leave the European Union”.
Some £50 billion in investment — including at least £11.6 billion from the private sector — is being mooted, with economics consultancy Oxera estimating an economic payoff worth around £85 billion to the British economy.
Mark Carne, chief executive of Network Rail, said passengers could look forward to “a transformation in the services they receive” over the next 18 months.
“Thousands of new trains will be introduced as the culmination of years of heavy investment in improving our railway comes to fruition, stimulating the economy by delivering new job and housing opportunities,” he added.
Prior to Britain’s referendum on membership of the EU, the Remain campaign warned that Brexit would spell economic disaster for the United Kingdom.
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne — now editor of the Russian-owned Evening Standard — had Treasury mandarins produce a report claiming that a Leave vote would deliver an “immediate and profound shock” to the British economy, plunging it into recession and causing around half a million job losses.
‘Project Fear’ quickly unravelled after the referendum was over, however, with the central bank, establishment forecasters, and various global bodies junking their doomsday predictions in the face of continued growth and unemployment falling to record lows.
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