The huge importance of the London economy to the rest of the country was highlighted on Tuesday by figures showing that the capital accounts for almost half of all services exported by the UK.
In 2016 — the most recent year for which figures are available — London businesses sold services abroad worth £117.3 billion out of a total for the UK of £251.2 billion, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
The City and Westminster alone accounted for more than £60 billion of services exports. This is more than the combined figure for Scotland, Wales, the North-East, North-West and South-West regions of England.
Tower Hamlets, which includes most of the Docklands financial district, was responsible for almost £12 billion of services exports.
Britain consistently runs a major surplus on sales of services such as banking, insurance, legal services and entertainment which partially offsets the deficit on manufactured goods. The services sector makes up almost 80% of the total UK economy.
