Economic optimism from Gordon Brown

Out and about with the Prime Minister on his round-England trip today and you are very struck, listening to him addressing a business breakfast this morning in Leeds, by a sense of economic optimism.

Not just a sense that the Budget growth predictions could be right but that they could be exceeded.

That would mean sustained growth on a level not seen since the dotcom bubble or the Lawson boom – to pluck two ominous precedents from history.

There is a belief that the financial sector could bounce back stronger than expected, that UK plc has the right sectors to make something extraordinary of the growth opportunities round the corner.

I’m getting positively light-headed.

The PM on tour: