The new body - Reshore UK - is to be set up, bringing together the expertise of UKTI and the Manufacturing Advertising Service, and sit with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

Mr Cameron, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, said that a recent survey showed that one-in-ten small businesses in the UK is considering bringing production back from overseas to the UK, more than double the number heading east.

Examples cited in his speech included train set maker Hornby, which is bringing some production back from India to the UK, and fashion brand Jaeger, which 15 years ago stopped making clothes in the UK but now is bringing home an initial 10pc of its output.

Mr Cameron said this was a trend from which not just the UK could benefit from but other parts of Europe and the US.

He also said it was important to appreciate why this is happening – noting that costs are rising in Asia, with senior management salaries in China now at or above those in the US and Europe, and that Western companies want to benefit from being nearer to the consumer markets they serve to aid customisation and privatisation.

“Taken together I believe these trends have the ability to be a fresh driver of growth. There’s a chance for Britain to become the ‘reshore’ nation,” he proclaimed.

However, the Prime Minister cautioned that this was not about “some tug of war to win them [jobs] back from the East”.

Instead he said that growth and dynamism in the global economy meant that new jobs are being created overall; “their gain can become our gain”, he countered, saying the UK was not involved in a “race to the bottom”.

He also emphasises that reshoring would not bring back all the jobs that have been lost offshore, nor would it stop offshoring.

Mr Cameron said that businesses needed confidence in the economies in which they exist, and that “demonstration of rule of law” is “so important” for such certainty.

He added that in order to create a more welcoming environment, the battle to create an enterprise friendly Europe had to be won, and there was a need for a cheaper and more sustainable energy supply, by supporting testing for shale gas.

Vince Cable, Business Secretary, welcomed the news, saying: “British industry is coming home. Over the past few months I have welcomed many companies who have taken manufacturing, textiles, call centre work or software abroad, bringing jobs back to the UK. This is a sign that diverse, high quality British manufacturing is on the rise again.”