London top for services

A QUARTER of all British service exports come from just two London boroughs, highlighting the vital importance of the City.

Together, Westminster and Camden and City of London sold £60bn of services overseas in 2016, or 24pc of total exports.

Outside London, the best performing region was Manchester which generated £7.5bn of service exports, while Swansea Bay was at the bottom for major city regions, says the Office for National Statistics.

Services make up fourfifths of the total UK economy. The figures show how important the Square Mile is for UK trade.

It employs around 513,000 people and last year paid a record £75bn in taxes.