Leeds and Sheffield ‘among the most attractive’ places in UK for foreign investment

AN analysis of the UK has ranked Leeds as the fourth most attractive inward investment area outside London.

The Business Location Index, created by Grant Thornton, evaluated the 324 local authority areas on economic, social and environmental criteria to assess their suitability as potential centres for investment by foreign owned businesses.

While London, led by Westminster, took nine of the top 11 spots, Leeds was the first northern authority, in 14th place. The highest-ranking authorities from outside London are Cambridge, South Cambridgeshire and Birmingham, while Sheffield was not far behind.

“Inward investment is the key to a vibrant UK economy, and this study is designed to show every region how best to target overseas firms to invest in order to grow businesses and create employment,” said Paul Houghton, senior partner at Grant Thornton in Sheffield and a board member of the Sheffield City Region LEP.

Andy Wood, practice leader for the Leeds office of Grant Thornton, added: “Leeds and Sheffield have come out of this report really well on different measures, and that’s great for the future growth of the Yorkshire economy.

“Further evidence that Leeds is a really smart choice for UK expansion is obviously welcome, and what we can take away from the report is that both Leeds and Sheffield are among the best places for inward investment projects outside the capital.”

The report also ranks LEPs by foreign owned companies, showing that together Leeds (566), Sheffield (343) and York (177) have 1086 overseas firms, around 5% of the total in England.