THE key economic indicators that trade unionists used to consider closely were the balance of trade deficit, the value of the pound, manufacturing production output, research and development (R&D) investment and unemployment levels.

Together these reflected the political health of the country to the extent that production was primary and that capital, until 1979 legally restricted in its movements, was being reinvested to regenerate the wealth-creating base.

As the country got further and further embroiled into the EU machine, with its free movement of capital, privatisation and neoliberal economics, the shift from the real economy of industrial production to the virtual reality of financial speculation also led to a shift away from discussing the most revealing economic indicators.

It’s time to get back to them and a bit of objectivity.

It is hardly surprising that a declaration of withdrawal from the EU in itself has begun to see the tide of the real economy again turning and some early hopeful signs of improvement being recorded. Nor is it surprising that good news for the real economy will be ignored by the pro-EU Establishment.

Here are some of the positive signs that are occurring and which should be welcomed.

Unemployment figures, based on the International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition, and collected by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) are falling and are down to 4.3 per cent. 

This represents of course misery for the 1.4 million workers this affects and we know of the state of casual and zero-hours employment in the economy. 

One person unemployed for more than four weeks is an unacceptable tragedy, but the trend in Britain is to a reduction and figures are at their lowest for 42 years. 

In the EU, a low growth, high unemployment zone always, there are officially, according to the EU data gatherers Eurostat, 18.1 million unemployed, that is double Britain's figures as a percentage of the overall population at around 8 per cent. 

Historically, the EU figures have been higher and some statisticians say they are closer in reality to 26 million.

Balance of trade figures expose the difference between what we export and what we import. 

EU membership quite consciously transformed Britain from a net exporter of goods, with a positive balance of trade, to a net importer. 

Britain remains a very significant partner for individual EU economies. Twenty-six out of the 27 other EU countries exported a greater proportion of their goods to Britain than Britain exported to them in 2015. We have a very strong negotiating position in Brexit.

Researchers used to compile lists of literally tens of thousands of items that Britain could no longer manufacture and imported instead. 

Of course the transition from coal production to 100 per cent coal importation was at the heart of EU efforts to ensure Britain could not be politically independent.

As we produced less, we imported more, with all sorts of consequences for green concerns, for jobs, quality and prices. 
The recent trend is to reduce the trade deficit. The total difference between imports and exports has gone down by £2.1 billion to £6.2bn in the three months to November 2017. 

Significantly, this figure has been reduced due to an increase of non-EU country exports rising by 5.3 per cent (£2.3bn). 

An ONS spokesperson said: “The trade deficit narrowed in the last three months, due mainly to increased exports of services, shipments of works of art and cars.” 

He went on: “Over the last year exports of goods, particularly cars, machinery and crude oil have continued to increase and at a faster rate than imports.”

In the three months to November 2017 the volume of production in heavy industry is estimated to have risen by 1.2 per cent compared with the three months to August 2017. 

There was strong growth in manufacturing in the same period, as it rose by 3.9 per cent, with renewable energy projects, boats, aeroplanes and cars for export all boasting figures to their best for 10 years.  

Unsurprisingly this has had knock-on benefits in the pay packets of manufacturing workers. As the Bank of England reported at the end of 2017, it found that shortages of labour across the manufacturing sector were leading to a “slight increase in pay growth” that would take average rate of pay rises up by half a percentage point, from 2 to 3 per cent in 2017 to 2.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent in 2018.

The Royal Society has reported Britain spends a lower percentage of its gross domestic product (GDP) on R&D than practically all comparative countries. 

However, linked now to the new industrial strategy is a commitment to raise this to 2.4 per cent of GDP in 10 years and 3 per cent in the longer term. When the latest figures were gathered in 2015, it was only 1.68 per cent. 

This trend is welcome and, set alongside the apprenticeship levy and some other developments, gives unions an opportunity to push for more upskilling and growth in real sustainable jobs in greener industries.

Once the shackles of EU membership are lifted on such things as procurement, public spending limits, state aid and so on, a new revival of production will become far more possible and at a faster rate. 

This may not entertain the liberal elites and the banks, but it will be life or death for the country and the rebirth of a real economy based on producing things, science, technology and high-skilled jobs.