Osborne’s makers aren’t marching

Britain's manufacturing industry continues to disappoint despite the chancellor's efforts to get the makers moving.

16-1-14-Osborne-634

Britain's manufacturing sector is stalling

The latest industrial production and manufacturing figures were "unambiguously rubbish", as Michael Hewson of CMC Markets put it. Industrial production (manufacturing, mining and energy supply) fell by 0.7% in November, the worst monthly fall in two years. Unusually warm weather dented electricity and gas output. Manufacturing output fared little better, declining by 0.4%. It has been treading water for a year. Industrial production is still 9.1% below the 2008 peak; factory output, 6.1%. Sterling sank to a five-year low under $1.44 against the dollar.

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Andrew Van Sickle
Editor, MoneyWeek

Andrew is the editor of MoneyWeek magazine. He grew up in Vienna and studied at the University of St Andrews, where he gained a first-class MA in geography & international relations.

After graduating he began to contribute to the foreign page of The Week and soon afterwards joined MoneyWeek at its inception in October 2000. He helped Merryn Somerset Webb establish it as Britain’s best-selling financial magazine, contributing to every section of the publication and specialising in macroeconomics and stockmarkets, before going part-time.

His freelance projects have included a 2009 relaunch of The Pharma Letter, where he covered corporate news and political developments in the German pharmaceuticals market for two years, and a multiyear stint as deputy editor of the Barclays account at Redwood, a marketing agency.

Andrew has been editing MoneyWeek since 2018, and continues to specialise in investment and news in German-speaking countries owing to his fluent command of the language.