The UK’s attractiveness as an investment destination has proved resilient amid the covid-19 pandemic, with the country ranking second in Europe for total inbound foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in 2020 and expanding its share of the European FDI market, according to the latest EY 2021 UK Attractiveness Survey.

While the UK again missed out on Europe’s top spot for FDI – for only the second year in the survey’s two-decade history – the gap was closed on 2019’s first-time leader France. In 2020, the UK secured 975 projects (down 12% from 2019’s 1,109 projects); France hosted 985 projects (down 18% from 2019’s 1,197 projects). Germany ranked third with 930 projects (down 4% from 2019’s 971). Spain remained a distant fourth with 354 projects (down 27% from 2019’s 486).

The UK performa