Pessimism reflects our climate

However, we’re having the sunniest spring most of us can remember and the outlook for the country is similarly upbeat.

The predictions are that by mid-century the UK will be the biggest European economy, if the most populous with all the challenges that entails and with a young demographic. This will translate into better household incomes.

In other words, we are making solid progress and are set to outstrip Germany and France. It rather confounds the popularly-held assumption that the UK is in gentle decline as emerging economies rise.

But we must continue to work hard at driving down the deficit. We simply cannot afford the sort of fiscal incontinence associated with the last government.

Our prospects are heavily dependent on the UK remaining united after the Scottish referendum in September. If we snap in two, leaving a small country and a medium-sized one, the outlook will surely be far less rosy.

To maximise our potential in the decades ahead we have to be light on our feet, exploiting diplomatic, cultural and commercial networks as never before.

We must broker a more constructive tradebased relationship with the EU, and how would a crude pulling up of the drawbridge help us do business in our biggest market?

We have to limit inward migration to those with useful skills and a few genuine asylum cases but why would we refuse French financial service workers who add value in the Square Mile, German biotech engineers working in our important pharmaceutical sector or international fee-paying students?

We have to invest in infrastructure.

This means increasing transport capacity, which is why I supported the high speed rail HS2 proposition in the Commons this week.

I am similarly keen to see a long-term solution to the lack of capacity at our airports, which is losing business to the continent.

Finally, to fulfil our potential, we have to up-skill our workforce.