The Chamber of Commerce is constantly changing to ensure that it can be the voice of local business in a changing Ayrshire. Part of that change is the growing recognition that  the good economy and the good society go together. I want to tell you a bit about the good economic record of this Government which is the basis of building a better society.

From day one we have emphasised the importance of stability in the economy starting with independence for the Bank of England. The UK continues to experience an unprecedented period of growth and stability despite global challenges. Interest rates remain low by historic standards at 5%; mortgage rates have been at their lowest since the 1950s and we have sustained the longest period of low inflation since the 1960s. We have the highest employment levels with 2.5 million more jobs in the economy than 1997.

The recent OECD economic survey ranked the UK first for all measures of economic stability and our GDP per capita in now ranked second in the G7 overtaking Germany and France.

This entrenched macroeconomic stability, coupled with the investment in making business competitive by increasing skills levels and supporting investment in R&D. means that Britain is well placed to take a leading role in the global economy.

However, the reality of globalisation has hit home over the last year at a local, national and international level. People are now more aware than ever about climate change, outsourcing of jobs, migration of labour, security of energy supply, the emerging economies of south and east Asia, international terrorism and the challenge to Make Poverty History.

It is said that all politics is local but if we are to continue to build a successful economy for our own people we must think from a global perspective. For example, if all UK fossil fuel burning stopped tomorrow, in less than 13 months China would have made it up by economic growth.  So we must make decisions on measures to tackle climate change with regard to the wider global context.

Although people are more aware than ever about globalisation they still feel they are losing out. Over a million jobs have been lost from the US, Europe and Japan to the emerging economies, whilst enlargement of the EU has brought workers in mainly from Poland. As a result the Government has had to put conditions on the numbers of Romanians and Bulgarians who can work here when they join the European Union. But in the long term protectionism is not the answer. Asia will not be able to compete on the basis of low pay in the long term. That is why India is producing four million graduates a year.

But I do believe in intervention. The forces of globalisation cannot be tackled with a laissez faire approach which leaves people to sink or swim. And we have a long way to go. We have half the business start up rates of the US and a third of our adults still do not have qualifications. So we must continue to invest in education, research and development, and help those who need to adapt to change and equip our young people for the future.

We in Ayrshire have to face this massive change on the back of communities devastated by the decline of heavy industry and mining. We have also lost jobs to low wage countries. Even so we have reason to be optimistic when we look at the development of the Aerospace industry, developments in Higher Education locally and the exciting plans for the Burns Homecoming as part of the tourist strategy.