Brown: UK economy will bounce back

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In his final Downing Street news conference of the year, the Prime Minister delivered a remarkably upbeat message insisting that the economy would pick up again and that the UK needed to be ready when it did.

"These are uncertain and difficult times but Britain can and must be a beacon of hope and opportunity for the future," he said.

"The scale of the challenges that we face is matched by the strength of my optimism that Britain can rise to meet these challenges.

"With our fighting spirit and our can-do attitude, I am confident that we can meet all the challenges ahead."

He said the Government would be bringing forward fresh measures in the new year for "smart investment" in "green" jobs, the digital economy, and the transport infrastructure - including a decision on a third runway at Heathrow.

With economists predicting further sharp increases in unemployment, Mr Brown refused to be drawn on how high he expected the jobless total to rise.

However, he promised that the Government would do more to re-train people to find new work as well as taking further action to restore the flow of banking lending to business.

His comments were dismissed by the Tories who said that Britain was now paying the price for the failure of his economic policies.

"Gordon Brown claims that we are all victims. The truth is that we are all victims of the economic catastrophe he has visited on this country," said shadow chancellor George Osborne. He added: "His failure to prepare for the downturn is driving Britain towards bankruptcy - leaving us and our children to pick up the bill for his soaring national debt for decades to come. In 2008 we have discovered, once again, that Labour governments always run out of money."