Export figures for the North East have become the latest cause for concern over the direction of the region’s economy.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that exports from the region dropped significantly in the third quarter of 2021, falling for the third period in a row and standing 6.7% below levels seen a year earlier.
The figures follow a rise in regional unemployment that went counter to the national picture, while an influential business survey recorded two periods of contraction in the North East at the end of last year.
