Economics viewpoint Manchester swagger could get UK out of rut

Over the summer Rachel Reeves has been on a road trip around Britain - from Cornwall and Kent to Aberdeen, south Wales and Belfast - in search of solutions for a national economy that is stuck in a rut.

- Richard Partington

Inspired by this tour, the chancellor used a Guardian article last week to set her autumn budget priority: boosting productivity. Tax and spending may dominate news headlines, but this is the real problem facing the country, and no politician of the past two decades has managed to fix it.

Productivity is a dull word of vital importance. Growing the measure of output for each hour of work is an economic secret sauce, enabling growth in wages and living standards over the long run without stoking inflation.

On the hunt for solutions, Reeves could have extended her trip. Unlike the rest of Britain, there are signs of life in Greater Manchester's productivity.

Between 2004 and 2023, the city region recorded the highest rise in gross value added for each hour worked of any combined authority in the country.

London - once the driver of UK growth - has in effect stalled. The capital is still streets ahead in terms of productivity, but Manchester is beginning to close the gap, with growth of 31% since 2004.