{{infobox England region | name = South West England| short_name = South West |hq = Bristol / Plymouth |imagename = image:EnglandSouthWest.png |status = Region |area_km2= 23,829 |area_rank= 1st |density = 207/km² |nuts= UKK |euro= South West England |population = 4,928,458 |population_rank= 7th |assembly = South West |election = non-directly elected |url = http://www.southwest-ra.gov.uk/ |South West England is one of the regions of England and covers the area known as the West Country.
The most economically productive area within the region is Bristol and the M4 corridor region. Bristol alone accounts for a quarter of the region's economy, and the surrounding areas of South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and North Wiltshire accounting for a further quarter.Eurostat & Office for National Statistics, 2004. "Portrait of South West England: Economy." Accessed 2006-04-14. Bristol's economy has historically been built on nautical industries, and the import of tobacco. Since the early 20th century, however, aeronautics have taken over as the bedrock of Bristol's economy, with companies including Airbus, Rolls-Royce and British Aerospace manufacturing in Filton. More recently telecomunications, information technology and electronics have been important industries in Bristol and Swindon.
The region's Gross Value Added breaks down as 69.9% service industry, 28.1% production industry and 2.0% agriculture. This is a slightly higher proportion in production, and lower proportion in services, than the UK average. Agriculture, though in decline, is important in many parts of the region. Dairy farming is especially important in Dorset and Devon, and the region has 1.76 million cattle, second to only one other UK region, and 3,520 square miles (9,110 sq km) of grassland, more than any other region. Only 5.6% of the region's agriculture is arable.
Tourism is important in the region, and in 2001 tourists spent £3,200 million in the region, putting it second only to London. In 2001 the GVA of the hotel industry was £2,200 million, and the region had 13,800 hotels with 250,000 bedspaces. Cornwall in particular relies on tourism. The county has the lowest GVA per head of any county or unitary authority in the country,Office for National Statistics, 2003. "Top 5 and Bottom 5 GVA per head of population.", contributes only 6.5% of the region's economy, and receives EU Objective One funding.DEFRA, n.d. "Objective 1 and 2 areas in England." Around five million people visit the county each year.Cornwall Tourist Board, 2003. Tourism in Cornwall. Cornwall's poor economic performance is partly caused by its remoteness and poor transport links, and by the decline of its traditional industries, such as mining, agriculture and fishing.
Although referendums had been planned on whether elected assemblies should be set up in some of the regions, none was planned in the South West.
There is some controversy over the status of Cornwall. Some consider it to be a nation in its own right. Many others (55% according to a MORI opinion poll) [1] wish to see devolution outside a "Devonwall"/"South West" region. A petition for a Cornish assembly has received over 50,000 signatures. The British Government's position is that Cornwall is a county of England and is far too small to become a region, having around one fifth of the population of the smallest existing English region.
South West England is one of the constituencies used for elections to the European Parliament. From the 2004 election onwards, Gibraltar has been included within the constituency for the purpose of elections to the European parliament only.
