The Sheffield City Region is fundamentally different to other parts of Yorkshire and Humberside from a commercial perspective, simply because of its manufacturing strength, and because of this it will be interesting to see how the economy settles or affects this region over the next two years as Brexit remains such a critical determining factor.
As things stand, it is difficult to see any pattern emerging as far as regional performance indicators are concerned. There are simply some manufacturing businesses doing extremely well at the moment and others which are being adversely affected by the economy.
Much of this can be attributed to the pound's relative weakness against other currencies, which allows some exporters to capitalise on better returns, while those who are primarily in the business of purchasing raw materials from overseas, may find that margins have tightened and they are finding it difficult to pass those costs on to the customer.
Some companies which trade overseas seem to have prepared extremely well for the economic fluctuations brought about by Brexit and have hedged against currencies at an early stage, taking advantage of forward purchasing on energy etc so that there are no net effects from the current uncertainty.
What we can look at are the undercurrents which may affect the region's businesses as time ticks on. Crucially, the UK's debt is still increasing, the balance of payments is not yet heading in the right direction, oil prices are volatile and there is no consistency in growth to be seen.
Which positions us in a realm of uncertainty, not knowing which way the economy is going to shift – will it improve? Or will we push back into a recession?
It is frankly too early to predict with any conviction. However, the Sheffield City Region has some fantastic plus points in its favour – we have the advanced manufacturing hub on the Rotherham border and recent announcements of Boeing and McClaren locating research centres here further strengthen the region's skills set, with further announcements imminent, I understand.
South Yorkshire is one of the leading lights in research and development and skills development and that USP will serve us well if we do have to weather rougher economic times, the region is well and truly established on the international radar and our collective manufacturing experience is at the global cutting edge.
There are other positives we should hold onto – we will almost certainly inherit a raft of current EU laws which perfectly suit our future needs and we will be well placed to continue trading with EU partners even if we have trade levies to contend with.
