The United Kingdom has historically been one of the main recipients of inward foreign direct investment (FDI), attracting more greenfield investment than other large European economies. However, the Brexit vote has introduced considerable uncertainty over the future growth potential of the UK market, and the ease of cross-border flow of goods and services. Following a peak of inward investment activity in early 2015, the number of FDI project announcements for the UK and the UK’s share of the European market for FDI have been falling. In this Briefing Paper, we provide an analysis of inward FDI to the UK before and after the EU referendum, looking at the main foreign investors, which sectors they invest in and how trends in inward FDI have evolved over time. Our work suggests that following the Brexit vote, inward investment has been 16-20 per cent lower than it would have been if the UK had voted to remain a member of the EU, but that this impact differs depending on the sector. Read Briefing Paper 23 – NOT BACKING BRITAIN: FDI INFLOWS SINCE THE BREXIT REFERENDUM

The UK is one of the most services-oriented economies in the world, both in terms of production and exports.  Services inputs embodied in manufacturing exports constitute an important but under-appreciated kind of services exports, so-called mode 5 services trade.  This Briefing Paper provides the first estimates of mode 5 services trade disaggregated by UK region and industry, respectively, and over time.  UK manufacturing exports entailed over £70 billion worth of domestic services inputs in 2017, which play an integral role in the competitiveness of UK manufacturing exports.  Since these services are produced locally, changes in the trading environment for manufactures have direct implications for domestic employment in services sectors. Read Briefing Paper 22 – THE ENGAGEMENT OF UK REGIONS IN MODE 5 SERVICES EXPORTS

The UK’s exit from the European Union (EU) is likely to have significant ramifications for services trade because the Single Market has been particularly salient for facilitating the international exchange of services.  Yet the discussion of potential effects on the British economy of Brexit has largely been confined to manufacturing sectors at the national level.  Less attention has been paid to services sectors, even though the UK economy is particularly strong in exporting services. To address this void, this Briefing Paper describes the rich pattern by which UK regions are exporting different kinds of services.  In particular, it traces the extent to which UK regions export services relatively intensively to EU countries relative to other destinations outside the EU. Read Briefing Paper 14 – BREXIT AND REGIONAL SERVICES EXPORTS: A HEATMAP APPROACH and the Online Appendix.