Tories' economic U-turns

Chancellor Gordon Brown can expect an end to Tory attacks about his decision to hand over power to the Bank of England's monetary policy committee over setting interest rates. He should also see co-operation

over what the Conservatives labelled the imposition of new "burdens on business" such as the minimum wage.

New shadow chancellor Michael Portillo's first act on his return to front bench politics was to announce that "the next Conservative government will respect the independence of the Bank of England and will

legislate to enhance that independence and increase accountability to parliament". He added that "the next Conservative government will not repeal the minimum wage."

Portillo later added that his Party still thought the minimum wage was not a "well targeted device for combating poverty" but that, "at the modest level at which it had been set, the minimum wage has caused less damage to employment than we feared."