The British economy:

assets and weaknesses

Major changes since the 1970s

turn to Europe:
exchanges with the EU on the rise
turn from industry to finance
 from a “mixed economy”
to a “neo-liberal” economy
a wave of privatisations (1980s-1990s)
 2008-2009,
the worst recession since WWII
March 2011,
the worst unemployment
figures since 1992
Permanent balance of payment problem,
Imports tend to outweigh exports
(in 2008: 350 B £ vs 250 B £)
A review of the
three sectors in
British
economy
 The primary sector:
Includes: agriculture & energy
Employs 2% of the working population
production of coal
=
divided by 3 since 1965

1969: discovery of oil (& natural gas)

in the North Sea
– exploited from 1975 onwards.
 The UK
now exports
more oil than it imports

Shell & BP
Sources of energy for the future?
Nuclear power only 20 %
of the production of electricity
(approximately 40% = gas; 6% = coal - 30% in 2014
38% = renewable energies - only 5% in 2014!)

wind turbines
 The secondary sector:
the end of industry?
UK = the birthplace of industry
(1850: “the workshop of the world”)
BUT
1978: 1 job out of 2;
2008: 1 job out of 6.
Employs only 15% of the working pop = 4 M

DEINDUSTRIALISATION
 The car industry

Thriving/Prosperous,
but no British car makers any more
Rolls Royce = BMW
Jaguar = Tata Motors (Indian)

+ Nissan, Honda, Toyota factories

The airplane / armament industry

BAE Systems, founded 1999

(ex-British Aerospace)
n° 1 weapon-seller in Europe
 New industries?

Essentially in the South East,

because of their nature
= “hi-tech”
 The tertiary sector:
the perilous triumph of finance

Services = health, education, administration

+ banking & insurance + transport + retail + catering
Employs 83% of the working pop = 22 M
4 jobs out of 5
=
the greatest proportion in the EU
+ greater than USA or Japan
 Finance
10% of working pop in 1978
20% in 2008
HSBC,
for “Hong Kong & Shanghai
Banking Corporation”
(founded 19th c)
Gordon Brown had to lend
£ 800 billion
= the “bailout”
 Tourism
Almost 7% of the GDP
Employs 2 M people
30 M tourists every year, spending 30 B £
50% of the money spent by tourists
London
 The “British model”
not as popular as in the Blair years
From 1997 to 2007:
a low rate of unemployment
(4% only, compared to 8% on the continent)
a high rate of growth
(around 4%, compared to 2% on the continent)

The dream shattered in September 2008

 Trade Unions
The Miners’ Strike 1984
The NUM
( National Union of Mineworkers)
Arthur SCARGILL
Margaret Thatcher and the miners’ strike
The UK is in an official
COVID-19 recession
after GDP plunged
20.4%