TODAY'S issue under the spotlight is the British economy.The Conservatives were traditionally seen as the party best able to sustain a strong British economy - Labour governments of the 1960s and 1970s lost power essentially because they were seen as failing to run the economy properly.

TODAY'S issue under the spotlight is the British economy.

The Conservatives were traditionally seen as the party best able to sustain a strong British economy - Labour governments of the 1960s and 1970s lost power essentially because they were seen as failing to run the economy properly.

But since 1997 the British economy has not collapsed, and now many business leaders like Sir Alan Sugar would prefer to stick with the Labour government they know rather than change direction.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer's decision to allow the Bank of England to set interest rates is widely credited with the foundation on which the economic policies of the last eight years have been built.

But the Conservatives say business is too wrapped up in red tape and that taxes are too high.

The Liberal Democrats, too, have pledged to cut government interference in the way the economy runs - and have even pledged to scrap the Department of Trade and Industry which supports business.

Today we want to know what you think of the government's running of the economy - and we are running a webpoll on our website.

Our first webpoll, on education, showed that most people who took wanted the emphasis placed on improving discipline in schools rather than spending more on education.

The figures were: improving discipline, 75 per cent, increasing spending on schools 25 pc.