Whilst I can completely understand the business secretary’s desperation to have a bit of good news to give to people at the moment, I thought that his comments about the possibility of the high speed rail factory in the North East were brave, to say the least.

The government must be careful not to give people false hope – being broke is one thing, being lied to is another completely.

Having said that, let’s all hope that Mr Cable’s predictions come true as a new rolling stock production facility would be very welcome indeed.