The south, the UK's industrial hotspot Here is a tricky issue for Notebook's Rebalancing Watch: it looks as though south-east England, excluding London, is close to overtaking the north-west as the UK region with the biggest manufacturing output. According to the Office for National Statistics , north-west England produced £16.1bn of gross value added in 2009, while the south-east accounted for £15.7bn. If the gap carries on shrinking as fast as it has over the past decade, the south-east will be top within four years. Brian Groom This is intriguing, since up to now it has been assumed that a rebalancing from financial services to manufacturing would go hand-on-hand with a shift from the south-east to other regions, such as northern England, the Midlands and Wales, where industry has traditionally been concentrated. It just underlines how complex and difficult it is to change the focus of an economy. Success in manufacturing is, of course, to be welcomed wherever it comes. The south-east has hotspots such as the motor-sport cluster and BMW Mini plant in Oxfordshire and advanced technologies such as nanotechnology and cryogenics. The north-west has successful industries such as aerospace and biomanufacturing. Its economy has fared better than other parts of the north, but there are some problems: BAE Systems is cutting 1,400 jobs at Samlesbury and Warton in Lancashire, while General Motors" Ellesmere Port car plant, employing more than 2,000, is under threat from a company review. Manufacturing makes up 11 per cent of the north-west's economy, compared with just 7 per cent in the south-east - Yorkshire and the Humber, the east Midlands and Wales are higher still at 12 per cent. Manufacturing in London, worth £7.7bn a year, is shrinking and accounts for just 2 per cent of the capital's economic output. Industrial strategy is moving back up the agenda again. Vince Cable, business secretary, and Ed Miliband, Labour leader, will on Tuesday address an EEF manufacturers" federation conference on the topic. George Osborne, the chancellor, speaks at the dinner. The "march of the makers" that the chancellor hailed in last year's Budget is progressing slowly, but these things need patience. Sad moments In a country with such an illustrious industrial past, there are bound to be poignant moments. One such came last week when an Oldham engineering plant in north-west England that produced the Lancaster bomber in the second world war was closed down. The factory in Chadderton, now owned by BAE Systems, was seen off in a banging-out ceremony in which employees and ex-workers hammered out a tribute with tools on the fences and lamp posts. Opened in 1939 by Avro, the factory was one of the main plants that built the Lancaster. Once it employed 11,000 but BAE said it was no longer viable. About 160 of the remaining 200 staff have been offered alternative positions at Samlesbury, where work has been transferred. Another poignant moment is coming in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, where the last hole-in-the-wall Staffordshire oatcake shop will close at the end of the month. Oatcakes - pancake-like wraps made from oatmeal - have been served through the front window of the end-terrace house since the 1920s. Glenn Fowler, who has run the business for 30 years, has sold the shop to the council, which plans to knock it down in a regeneration scheme that will erase much of the area's Victorian character. The move has triggered debate about how best to develop historic industrial areas. "We've knocked down too much of the city's fabric," says Tristram Hunt, the local MP. Stoke-on-Trent is fighting valiantly against decline, but let us not sweep away the good with the bad. Seven months off A March 1 entry from Samuel Pepys's 17th century diary: "Westminster Hall was very full, the King having prorogued the Parliament till the 19th of October: at which I am glad." And we think today's MPs have long recesses. Strike for Britain Len McCluskey, leader of the Unite union, warns of strikes over public sector cuts during the Olympics. Perhaps striking should be made an Olympic sport. The British, with much past experience, could excel.