Lord Mandelson has warned that the coalition is in danger of becoming "one-club golfers".

"They're in danger of concentrating on deficit reduction regardless of anything else and I think that this could lead to mistakes and long term damage to the country," he told Today presenter James Naughtie.

Launching the Legatum Institute's international Prosperity Index, which indicates British citizens lack a general feeling of national well-being, he added that it showed "there were areas with room for improvement" such as the economy, health and education; but on the whole the results were "not damning".

But he refused to blame the previous government for the Britain's poor showing in the report.

"It's hardly surprising that in the circumstances of a financial crisis that blew a hole in our material wealth and left us with a large deficit to reduce, people took a somewhat gloomier view then than they had done previously," he said.

And Lord Mandelson stressed that the coalition's main aim should be "to put the economy on an upward path" in order to improve national prosperity.

Get in touch with Today via email , Twitter or Facebook or text us on 84844.