Manufacturing industry growing at fastest rate in 18 years amid confidence that economic recovery is here to stay

Manufacturing output grew at its fast rate for 18 years in the three months to November providing further evidence of a sustained recovery in Britain's economic recovery, the CBI said today.
The business lobby's survey of nearly 345 factory bosses found that total order books and output growth were the highest recorded since January 1995.
And confidence is also returning rapidly with a majority of manufacturers telling the CBI they expect growth to continue at a robust pace over the coming three months.
18 year high: The CBI said the manufacturing industry was growing at its fastest pace since January 1995
18 year high: The CBI said the manufacturing industry was growing at its fastest pace since January 1995
Stephen Gifford, the CBI's director of economics, said: 'This new evidence shows encouraging signs of a broadening and deepening recovery in the manufacturing sector.

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'Manufacturers finally seem to be feeling the benefit of growing confidence and spending within the UK and globally.'
The key finding of the survey showed that a positive balance of 11 per cent of firms believed order books were above normal in November, helped by signs of a continued recovery among exporters.
The rise in output growth was broad-based, with all but one of 15 sub-sectors - electrical engineering - reporting growth.
Despite the progress, Mr Gifford said challenges remain for UK manufacturers.
He added: 'UK exporters need Government support to break into high-growth export markets to reduce their vulnerability to any further eurozone flare-ups.'
Marcus Grimshaw, chairman of the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers, suggested some of the growth could be explained by the emergence of small and medium sized manufacturers.
He said: 'Hardened times mean we've seen the number of large manufacturers operating in the UK fall in three of the last four years. 
'But the sector's SME population has grown steadily since 2011 and there are now 3 per cent more manufacturing SMEs operating than two years ago, while large employer numbers have dropped by 0.4 per cent.'
The figures continue to confirm the recovery in the economy that has taken place this year against expectations in January when many were forecasting the UK to fall into a triple dip recession. 
The Bank of England last week revised its growth forecast for the UK economy up to 1.6 per cent this year and 2.8 per cent next year. Meanwhile, there was a surprise fall in consumer price inflation in October to 2.2 per cent from 2.7 per cent the previous month.
Official figures also showed unemployment falling at a faster rate than the Bank had previously forecast to 7.6 per cent in the three months to the end of October.