New beginnings

I have written before on this blog about the opportunities that this recession will provide for the country to re-examine its growth policies.

One area is green technology which was sadly overlooked by the G20.

The Prime Minister though attempts to put that right in an exclusive interview with the Indy this morning.

He tells the paper that he wants

to make Britain "a world leader" in producing and exporting electric cars, hybrid petrol-electric vehicles and lighter cars using less petrol.

and that the budget in two weeks tine will see the first signs of this process.The country he says

could increase its output of environmental goods and services by 50 per cent to £1.5bn in the next few years.

as he heralds that 400,000 jobs could be created.

We have though heard this before and one wonders how this sits alongside yesterday's decision to pump more money into an ailing car industry.

The paper's leading article is optimistic

Mr Brown is certainly right when he argues that Britain will need to find some way of creating jobs in a post-recession world in which the City, our dominant employer of late, will be much diminished. Furthermore, we will need to expand our renewable industry rapidly if we are to meet our EU target of producing 15 per cent of our energy from low carbon sources by 2020. There is plainly scope for growth in the labour-intensive green economy.