DELIVERING a decidedly confident economic outlook today, Chancellor Gordon Brown certainly has a clutch of rosy statistics to support his claim that Britain is on the brink of an era of growth like that enjoyed by America during this decade.

There is unemployment which at just 4.2 per cent is at its lowest for 19 years. Inflation is at a mere 1.1 per cent, the lowest for 36 years and interest rates, though nudged up last week by the Bank of England, are down to where they were in the Sixties.

Politically, all this amounts to rich rewards for the government. For, traditionally, Labour has been vulnerable on economic management.

Now, under the rigorous regime of Mr Brown, its economic ability is shown to be capable and sound.

The old tax and spend image has been dispelled - though those totting up the stealth taxes on petrol and pensions might disagree.

And, although it tied itself to Tory public spending levels for two years, Labour is too far into this government for the Tories to claim much credit for the glowing, growing economy Mr Brown surveys today.

And if they did, he could surely point to the contrast of today's low unemployment and low inflation with the methods of the Thatcher era for driving down inflation which entailed driving unemployment up to four million.

But there is another slant to the situation which appears to have been overlooked - that of the success of the British economy outside of the European single currency. It is somewhat ironic that this distinction - and that of the poorer shape of the economies of some of the countries inside euroland - can be drawn just as the trade unions were voting at the TUC conference for the government to be more positive about entry, as business displays a similar stance favouring our joining up and when the strong pound is deemed to be hurting the export arm of the UK economy.

Indeed, there are some who might trace the start of today's boom to Britain's dramatic divorce from euro's precursor, the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.

Mr Brown says he will not consider entry until the economic conditions are right and that may not even be in the next parliament.

But, with economic conditions evidently very much all right now, the electorate, when it comes to a referendum, may ask whether the entry to the euro is worth the risk when we are quids in as we are.

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