MERSEYSIDE has seen an improvement in its relative economic performance compared to the other sub-regions of Britain.
The Merseyside area has climbed several places in a league table that measures the economic output of Britain’s sub-regions. The area, which for many years has languished in the bottom three or four of Britain’s sub-regions, has now climbed to 32nd out of 37.
According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, Merseyside’s economic output per head in 2011 was £15,615, up 1.1% on the previous year. The average economic output per head for the UK was £20,873.
The county of Cheshire was one of only eight sub-regions in Britain to have higher than average output. It recorded economic output per head of £22,743.
Merseyside has overtaken Tees Valley and Durham, South Yorkshire, and Lincolnshire in recent years. Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and West Wales and The Valleys are also at the foot of the table.
Comparable urban areas, such as West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester had output per head figures of £18,172 and £18,113 respectively.
Top of the table was Inner London with a figure of £62,398, three times higher than the UK average.
Frank McKenna is chairman of Downtown in Business, a business lobby group. He said: “It’s all to do with Liverpool’s success over the past decade. It’s there for all to see.
“The regeneration of the city has been quite a remarkable story during that period and what those figures demonstrate, particularly against the backdrop of the Wirral statistics, is that Liverpool is the economic driver for the city-region.
“Organisations like ours have argued that Liverpool should be the leading brand when it comes to investment activity. We are borne out by the statistics.”
