Champion firms

According to research by Experian for the BBC, it is those regions that have been most badly hit by the downturn that have the highest proportion of fast-growing firms concentrating heavily on developing exports.

Indeed, it is the fact that Experian has not merely counted the number of companies but actively investigated their prospects for growth and their attitudes towards exploring global markets that gives hope.

It is these “business champions”, as the survey terms them, that belie the belief that regions viewed as among Britain’s least resilient will be among the last to benefit from the economic recovery when it actually arrives.

What is needed now, however, is proof from the Government that it is ready to back these up- and-coming businesses with a coherent strategy for growth and a regulatory and tax framework that will finally help to realise this region’s undoubted potential.