The Return of Brexit

[Jack Halford]

Mate, the tech sector in Leamington is growing rapidly. We have an office in California. Do the tech companies there know about the growth in Leamington, yes.

The point I’m making is that it’s very easy to knock GB but we are seeing some real growth areas, Life Sciences being another.

It may well be growing rapidly, but just because a few local business leaders in Warwickshire have branded it as "Silicon Spa" for marketing purposes doesn't mean that it is mentioned in the same breath as Silicon Valley, there's a brilliant up and coming distillery in the south of the county but it's not the Islay of England.

Warwickshire's economy is still centred around high tech manufacturing and tourism, two things that will take a hit from Brexit. The new Forza and Fable games won't change that as they pale in comparison. Hell, logistics and distribution is a huge industry in the county and that's going to take a massive hit with customs backlogs.

As for life sciences, that industry has been heavily reliant on cooperation within the single market, the second biggest pharmaceutical company in the UK is Anglo-Swedish.

Granted, tech in Leam is nowhere near on the same scale as Silicon Valley but there are plenty of new start ups who are growing rapidly. It’s the start ups that will create the new jobs we need and opportunities for the grads of today.

Tourism will be an interesting one as the majority of high spending tourists in Stratford are from the US and China.

Distribution is huge. Amazon are building some massive distribution units at the moment. The logistics sector will continue to grow notwithstanding the customs backlog. There is significant investment in the development of these units going on at the moment and that’s not likely to change either.