To ask where our money comes from in UK?

[timegoesbysoso]

I keep hearing of the need to make buildings net zero, how it will create new jobs. How AI will revolutionise the country and so on. Lots of plans for expenditure.

But how do we make money? I have no clue about this? We don't seem to have any products to sell or any manufacturing etc

It can't just be massive money laundering (joking, I think).

Anyone know?

Thank you all, I'm finding this so helpful.

Can anyone give more information on what we specifically manufacture

And anyone saying we don't make anything is not paying attention - the UK is still the 9th largest manufacturing economy in the world, worth £180Bn a year to the economy - and a lot of that is serious high tech stuff like satellite technology, gas turbines and pharmaceuticals, not cheap tat.

At the other end of the scale we have a huge creative arts sector - the creative economy (music, video games, film, books, theatre, cinema etc) is worth €110Bn a year - which is a useful stat to trot out to any philistines who think that studying art, drama and music at school is a waste of time.

Cars.

Mostly foreign owned but still. Jaguar Land Rover Mini, Nissan have a plant in the north east.

Rolls Royce make jet engines and cars

Aeroplanes and missiles/military stuff - British aerospace is a big employer near where I grew up.

Ships - fewer than we used to but major shipyards on the Clyde and north east. Siperyachts and boats generally

Pharmaceuticals - GlaxoSmithKline, Astra zeneca.

Satellites and space stuff - airbus have a big space factory in Stevenage.

www.ukspacefacilities.stfc.ac.uk/Pages/Airbus-DS-Stevenage.aspx

@Octavia64 Rolls-Royce jet engines and Rolls-Royce cars are different companies. The jet engine manufacturer is absolutely huge (£16 billion revenue per year). The car manufacturer is dwarfed by other UK-based car manufacturers like Nissan and JLR.

As I tell my children, Google is your friend. Look at trustworthy resources and actually research information rather then rely on other people telling you.

If you want to see a detailed breakdown by sector it's all on the ONS site here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/manufacturingandproductionindustry

We punch massively above our weight in terms of scientific research- we have the 2nd highest number of Nobel prizes in the world.
Our higher education sector is world class and that’s why foreign students come here; we attract international talent to work in our universities.

I'm curious why you need to know?!

I heard a programme about this on radio 4 a few months ago. It said that whilst our manufacturing industry was much dimished we excel in the services industries. This accounts for 81% of our output. This is from a government website:

The service industries include the retail sector, the financial sector, the public sector, business administration, leisure and cultural activities. The service industries accounted for 81% of total UK economic output (Gross Value Added) and 83% of employment in October–December 2023.13

Maybe they're just curious?

Weapons.
We're one of the biggest manufacturers of weapons in the world I think.

BBC2's Inside the Factory has been going for 8 series.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07mddqk/episodes/guide

As far as I can think of the UK manufactures:
Cars and car parts (JLR, nissan, mini etc but also thousands of supporting manufacturers of individual parts)
Aerospace parts (RR, Airbus etc)
Trains (bombardier)
Steel
Composites (mostly to support aerospace industry)
Tooling (eg drill bits and end mills)
Robotics for thousands of applications
Valve manufacture
Furniture (eg sofas at DFS)
Aluminium extrusions
Ceramics in the midlands (plates cups etc)
Shoes in Northampton
Clothing in the north west and Leicester (community Clothing and BooHoo: opposite sides of the coin!)
Space components (like the silver sheets on the wings)
Packaging, especially vacuum moulded plastic
Model trains

I'm sure I've forgotten loads...

Oh I forgot defense! Nuclear submarines are manufactured at Barrow in Furness

For us to sell and export?

Otherwise, good for the job market but surely we pay for them rather than making money from them?

You'd be surprised what we make in the UK.

Clothing/textiles
Motorbikes
Car engines
Food products
Alcohol - scotch whisky, gins, beers, ciders
Transport - aerospace, ships, trains
Chemicals, paints, coatings
Healthcare equipment
Furniture

We tend to make high quality, high tech, bespoke, higher value add stuff.

@BMW6 You were asking why I wanted to know?

I just like to know how things work and find MN always gives great insights and starting points to jump off and find out more.

I'm always wondering about stuff. Like, why can't dogs breed with cats etc. Or can we evolve to live on another planet with no air? All sorts of things.

In the NW we have factories making lorries, (Daf) and warplanes(BAE), Passenger aircraft (airbus) plus dozens of smaller companies. We also have massive high tech greenhouses growing tomatoes and salad stuffs. The sky looks like the Northern Lights in Winter due to the pink lighting used in the greenhouses.

For whoever was wondering why people want to know- curiosity, a desire to try to buy British? From those lists, the only things I buy would be shoes- never seen any moderately priced British ones, need to look harder. Clothes - I've seen community clothing but had forgotten about it, need to look again. I'm not a fan of what I heard about Leicester sweat shops ( probably still treating people better than ones abroad though).

Yes, we're due to supply Australia with some in the early 2030s for them to build their first nuclear sub fleet (it was previously diesel powered). Called the AUKUS deal. We also share nuclear technology with the us and vice versa, which you can argue is economically favourable, although not by traditional trading methods.

The service industry- financial industry is huge in this country.

Thanks for this link, I found that really interesting.

You could google

@Tomorrowillbeachicken Or we could debate and discuss because there is joy to be had in those things?