Logistics spending will unlock growth, says Logistics UK

Business group Logistics UK is urging the Chancellor Rachel Reeves to prioritise spending on infrastructure in this week’s Spending Review, to unlock the whole economy growth which research shows the logistics industry can drive. As Kevin Green, Policy Director explains, the group’s members are the businesses who keep the wheels of our economy turning:

“Nothing moves without logistics, think about it, literally nothing. It keeps our hospitals, schools, factories, shops and homes supplied with everything they need, everywhere, every day. When logistics thrives, the economy thrives – but according to the World Bank our logistics is going backwards. In its global Logistics Performance Index, the UK was ranked 4^th in 2013, but dropped to 19^th just 10 years later. The World Bank put that down to lack of infrastructure investment, congestion and delay and friction at our borders. The Spending Review is a huge opportunity to reverse the decline and turbocharge growth across the whole economy – Oxford Economics has estimated that making the right investments to get the UK back to 4^th in the global logistics index would generate £8 billion per year in GDP.”

Logistics UK is one of the UK’s biggest business groups, representing logistics businesses which are vital to keeping the UK trading, and more than seven million people directly employed in the making, selling and moving of goods. With decarbonisation, Brexit, new technology and other disruptive forces driving change in the way goods move across borders and through the supply chain, logistics has never been more important to UK plc. Logistics UK supports, shapes and stands up for safe and efficient logistics, and is the only business group which represents the whole industry, with members from the road, rail, water and air industries, as well as the buyers of freight services such as retailers and manufacturers whose businesses depend on the efficient movement of goods. For more information about the organisation and its work, please visit logistics.org.uk