THE news that the UK economy is now finally above the level it reached before deep recession hit in 2008 is undoubtedly good news, writes Ross Smith, North East Chamber of Commerce director of policy.

As I’ve said before, politicians who are used to either taking credit for such news or decrying it – depending on which side of the House of Commons they sit – should pause to thank the businesses who have delivered this result.

But these same politicians do undoubtedly have a supportive role to play though creating the conditions in which businesses can produce growth.

Predictably, there is significant debate about whether it needed to take so long to get back to this level.

There is an argument that Britain’s public finances were in poor shape prior to the crash, which left our economy more vulnerable to its effects.

There is also an argument that since then, cuts have been applied to deeply or in the wrong places, and made recovery harder to achieve.

Of course, it’s possible that both may be true.

That debate is clearly an important one.

But it shouldn’t be allowed to obscure big decisions that are needed now to ensure future economic growth is not much weaker than we were used to before the recession.

In almost all discussions among NECC members, skills finds its way to the top of the agenda.

Statistics about the rate that engineers will need to be replaced over the coming years are scary, while in other areas like IT there are big opportunities we must make sure not to miss.

However, addressing these issues is rarely achieved within a five-year electoral cycle so it’s too easy for politicians to place it on the ‘too difficult’ pile.

Similarly, the energy security some of our heavy industry badly needs requires tough choices over how it will be generated, which have not been sufficiently addressed.

And the length of time it is still taking to make a decision on extra hub airport capacity in the UK is a serious indictment over politicians’ stomach for major infrastructure commitments.

The confirmation that we have at last moved on from 2008 should be a catalyst for making serious plans on how to take our economy forward on these and other issues.

Otherwise future data releases will give us a lot less to cheer about.