HEALTH, education and the war in Iraq were the big issues which attracted the most hits in the Evening Star's webpolls over the last three weeks.We asked readers what they thought on a number of issues and invited them to vote in the webpoll on our homepage at www.

HEALTH, education and the war in Iraq were the big issues which attracted the most hits in the Evening Star's webpolls over the last three weeks.

We asked readers what they thought on a number of issues and invited them to vote in the webpoll on our homepage at www.eveningstar.co.uk

The voters on the webpoll turned out to be a pretty fickle bunch.

A big majority favoured putting more emphasis on improving school discipline rather than investing more in schools.

And much smaller majority wanted the health emphasis to be placed on combatting MRSA rather than spending more on health in general.

On Iraq we found 45 per cent of people felt the war was right, but 55 per cent felt Mr Blair had taken us into an illegal war.

When other issues were highlighted, the messages we got were very different - a clear majority of our webpoll voters wanted Britain more deeply involved in Europe.

And on the question of international aid - which attracted the lowest vote of all - the voting was split exactly down the middle on whether the government should increase spending or leave it up to charities.

Ipswich Conservative candidate Paul West said it was not possible to say which three issues had attracted the biggest response on the doorstep.

He said: “Education and health have been mentioned, but so have things like immigration, asylum and council tax.

“Iraq is often brought up - but I think many voters see that as shorthand for the question of Mr Blair's character.”

Neil Macdonald, who is standing the constituency of Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, was pleased to hear education and health had provoked interest.

He said: “They are issues we often hear about and they are issues that people trust Labour on.

“During the early part of the campaign we heard a lot about immigration - but that seems to have died down a lot now that the Conservatives have stopped going on about it so much.”

Liberal Democrat Kathy Pollard had found that Iraq was a major issue on the doorsteps of South Suffolk.

She said: “That is the subject that many people bring up in their discussions with me - it's the issue of trust.

“Health is a major issue too in this part of the county - but education is something which only tends to come up if we bring it up with the voters.”