I am very proud today to be the first Prime Minister in 90 years to hold a meeting of the cabinet in Scotland.

Gordon Brown

I am very proud today to be the first Prime Minister in 90 years to hold a meeting of the cabinet in Scotland.

The only other time the cabinet met north of the border, ministers made their way up to Inverness on 7 September, 1921, so the then Prime Minister David Lloyd George did not have to cut short his holiday nearby in Wester Ross.

Today, we are meeting in Glasgow for a very different reason - to discuss how we can work to bring Scotland and the rest of Britain through these difficult economic times as soon as possible, emerging stronger and fairer than ever before.

When the world came together at the G20 meeting to agree a global plan to fight back against recession, it brought home to me how similar are the challenges our countries face. Indeed whether facing climate change or financial instability, energy security or terrorism, we now know how interdependent the world is. There is no Scotland-only or England-only, or Wales-only solution to the problems we face.

When Scottish-owned banks failed, the UK government was ready to step in. The sheer scale of the rescue - £50bn for recapitalisation, £585bn to insure toxic assets - would have overwhelmed any Scottish government. We are quite simply stronger together, weaker apart.

So just as the world's largest economies agreed that we can only hope to come through this global downturn by standing together, making full use of the world's resources to kick-start our national economies, so Scotland will only recover if our plan for prosperity makes full use of the economic resources of the United Kingdom.

If we are going to fight back against this downturn that is affecting every country in the world, we must identify the sectors in which Scotland and the UK can lead the way in future years - and set in place the government action that will support that. Jim Murphy, our excellent and energetic Secretary of State for Scotland, has identified Scotland's key economic sectors as financial services, high-skill engineering, energy - from clean coal to tidal, tourism and quality food and drink.

Ahead of the cabinet meeting in Glasgow today, we will be meeting people who represent different parts of Scotland's future economy to discuss the challenges they face. I will be meeting a range of businesses to discuss what help is available from government alongside agreements from the banks to increase lending, including new rules we have brought in that will allow more than 6000 Scottish business to defer payments of £122m.

I will be seeing how the UK's commitment to invest in vital defence contracts can sustain manufacturing jobs in Scotland and create apprenticeships to train up a future workforce. We will also be discussing how Britain can lead the world in producing electric cars and bring generations of new jobs here by creating a UK market.

Throughout its history in the Union, Scotland has contributed so much and got so much from it in return. The same is true now. Take Scotland's financial services industry as one high profile example.

For all the turmoil of recent months, , Scotland's financial industry has brought great benefit to the United Kingdom over the decades - and I know that a reformed sector with stronger, tighter regulation can continue to lead in the future. Yet the sector's survival has only been possible because we took swift action using the full resources of the United Kingdom. The fate of financial services in smaller countries across the world shows this is no time to go it alone.

So my message today is simple - have confidence that we can come through this global recession by acting together and building a better future now.

I know this is the right approach for Scotland and the rest of the UK, and nothing will deflect us from our determination to see it through.