AS Prime Minister Gordon Brown struts around the world proclaiming his mantra of “spend, spend, spend, borrow, borrow, borrow” to overcome the recession, UK businesses have lost confidence in his handling of the economy.

Graham Dines

AS Prime Minister Gordon Brown struts around the world proclaiming his mantra of “spend, spend, spend, borrow, borrow, borrow” to overcome the recession, UK businesses have lost confidence in his handling of the economy.

In a survey of 200 leading business figures for published in today's Independent, only 28% said they were confident in Mr Brown's ability, compared with 42% in a similar poll last October.

Meanwhile, a YouGov poll for The Sun suggests the outcome of the next general election may be a minority Conservative government, which could be forced to seek a coalition partner or opt for a swift return to the ballot box.

It puts the Conservatives on 41%, Labour on 34% and the Liberal Democrats on 15%. Because of the inbuilt bias towards Labour in the electoral make-up of Britain, such an outcome would leave the Tories 36 seats short of an overall majority.