‘It is time to start focusing on the positives’

Lord Mandelson said yesterday people should stop being “so darned pessimistic“ about Britain’s future.

Despite the recession, he insisted there were still “plenty and plenty of opportunities”.

He complained people were focusing on the negatives instead of looking on the up side.

Lord Mandelson spoke out at a Cabinet question-and-answer session in Glasgow, where the public were given the chance to quiz senior ministers.

The business secretary had been asked about what support the government was giving to the struggling car industry. He said a decision on a car scrappage scheme, where people could be given help to buy a new car if they scrapped an older vehicle, would be made shortly.

Lord Mandelson described the car industry as a cornerstone of the UK manufacturing sector and told the audience that a decision on a car scrappage scheme would be taken shortly.

He went on: “We’ve seen an awful lot about the experience, the consequence of the risks in the global economy, particularly in our financial system.

“But that doesn’t mean to say that all the opportunities that are available to us as a great manufacturing and trading nation are being wiped away.”

He added: “It’s about time people stopped being so darned pessimistic, looked at it on the up side, and looked at what we’re good at in this country.”

Other questions in the Q&A session which ministers faced ranged from bank lending to welfare issues, electric cars and support for the motor industry, and international aid. The least predictable question came from a pupil who wanted to know how his grandmother could be reassured that she could start spending again.

Paul Cruikshank, 16, of Glasgow, asked: “Does my granny know it’s now a good time to spend?”

Treasury Chief Secretary Yvette Cooper replied: “Paul’s granny, and everybody else, has to make their own decisions about what to do with their money.”