Scotland favourite place in UK for foreign investment outside London

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Scotland also secured a record 13.6% share of UK FDI projects and is polling at record levels of attractiveness to investors as an FDI location outside London, according to EY’s latest Scotland Attractiveness Survey. EY Scotland managing partner Ally Scott said: “Scotland put in another powerful performance on FDI in 2022, securing record inward investment projects and UK market share. Scotland continues to consolidate its already well-established position as the most attractive UK location for FDI outside London EY chief economist Peter Arnold “To maintain and enhance its status, Scotland must engage, plan, and play to its strengths: engage with public and private sector bodies to create a vibrant ecosystem for growth; plan how to sustain market-leading levels of attractiveness in the medium and long term; and build on its existing track record in prioritising high-value, high-potential areas like digital tech, renewable energy and R&D.” Similar to the UK and Europe, Scotland’s largest sector in 2022 was the digital tech industry which has been the leading sector for Scottish FDI in each of the past three years. “These findings clearly demonstrate Scotland’s attractiveness as an investment destination and highlight the phenomenal progress being made to grow our international reputation as a dynamic, open nation with an outward-facing economy.” UK investment minister Lord Johnson said: “Year after year we’re seeing growth in the number of FDI projects and Scotland’s major cities are still attracting a huge amount of planned investment.