At least four of Mr Brown's measures were proposed by William Hague when he unveiled a new Tory policy blueprint at his party conference last month. He called for the starting rate of tax on savings to be cut from 20p to 10p and said the move would help pensioners, a measure trumpeted by Mr Brown, who said up to 1.5 million old people would gain an average of pounds 65 from the change. One of Mr Brown's most headline-grabbing ideas was to force people suspected of working in the "black economy" to sign on every day at benefit offices. However other analysts dismissed the notion that Mr Brown was making the same mistakes that were made in the Eighties, arguing that the Chancellor was being conservative in his forecasts and that he could have room for bigger pre-election handouts without breaking his rule of borrowing only to fund investment.Marian Bell, of Royal Bank of Scotland, said: "Indeed his [Mr Brown's] forecasts suggest that he could spend pounds 9bn more next year and still meet the golden rule.". "An increase to 2.5 percent from April this year would allow a loosening of around pounds 3bn in March 2001," he said."If the switch happened in April 1997 then it would be larger numbers but there would be difficult arguments as to why it switched."The last time the Treasury revised up the trend rate of growth was between 1984 and 1988. "We don't want to make the mistakes of the past when cyclical improvement was mistaken for fundamental change," he said.On Monday the Treasury revised up its estimate of the economy's trend growth rate to 2.5 per cent from 2.25 per cent but it used the lower figure for the public finances forecasts.Mr Emmerson said that the size of the "war chest" would depend on the scale of the revision and the date that the Treasury says it took effect.

In an assessment of the pre-Budget report, the institute said that Mr Brown should not embark on pre-election giveaways unless there was hard evidence that Britain's economy was on a sure footing. But the institute also said that Mr Brown had given himself room for manoeuvre by quietly increasing the Govern- ment's reserve fund by pounds 8.5bn.Carl Emmerson, an institute analyst, said that the Government should only relax its tax and spending policies if it was sure that the economy was enjoying a structural - rather than cyclical - improvement. The bank could operate by issuing either investment bonds underwritten by the Government or government-guaranteed loans.News Analysis, Business, page 23Outlook, page 21. GORDON BROWN'S "war chest" for tax cuts and hikes in public spending could contain as little as pounds 3bn, an economic think-tank said yesterday. The Institute of Fiscal Studies warned that the Chancellor could not relax his grip on public finances if he wanted to stay within his government borrowing rules.

Small and medium-sized firms will be supported by a pounds 45m enterprise scheme offering grants of pounds 75,000 for businesses in depressed areas employing up to 250 people.Mr Byers also announced plans to establish a "knowledge bank" aimed at helping innovative businesses secure financing. Among the initiatives is a network of regional venture capital funds which are expected to attract pounds 250m from the private sector alongside pounds 50m of government "pump priming" money.There is also a new "Phoenix" fund to encourage entrepreneurs to set up in disadvantaged areas and a high technology fund which Mr Byers said would attract pounds 125m of institutional funding in addition to the pounds 20m pledged by the DTI. But Mr Byers said they would have the effect of leveraging hundreds of millions of pounds more from private sector investors. Stephen Byers, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, announced five schemes worth pounds 245m to promote enterprise and encourage more investment in high-tech start-up companies. The initiatives follow on from the schemes announced in the Chancellor's pre-Budget report to promote share ownership and reward risk takers joining new enterprises with lowly-taxed share options. Critics argued that a number of the schemes announced by Mr Byers did not involve any new funding. "None of us would mind a repeat of that episode - imagine the compensation.".

A pounds 1bn PACKAGE of measures to stimulate investment, increase share ownership and reward entrepreneurs was unveiled yesterday by the Government. Yesterday they were briefly rewarded for a damp four hours outside a plush hotel. For 10 seconds, a demure Britney Spears, looking at least four years younger than her official age of 17, emerged to be whisked away in a rather unglamorous people carrier.At a respectful distance, a clutch of motorcycle couriers had gathered. "We heard about yer man on Tuesday," one explained, referring to the Puff Daddy incident. That irritation is made worse by the exclusive nature of the occasion.MTV claims a billion people may watch the awards ceremony on television. But only 1,000 members of the payingpublic will witness the event first hand.

Tickets that originally went on sale at Irpounds 22 (pounds 18), are now more likely to cost Irpounds 2,000 on the Dublin black market.A welter of clubs have been booked for post-ceremony bashes, although the enjoyment of some parties may be curtailed after the seizure at Dublin airport on Sunday of four kilos of cocaine, reportedly destined for the nostrils of pop's finest.Other likely profiteers include the hundreds of paparazzi who wait patiently for a quick glimpse of The Corrs or Eternal and the real prize of confirming the rumour that Madonna is in town. Boyzone's lead singer and award presenter Ronan Keating was the only celebrity of note to turn up; but then, as one disgruntled 16-year-old girl observed, he would attend the opening of an envelope.Nevertheless, the music channel claims that this is the biggest ever rock event andmost would agree that the small city's infrastructure is being stretched to the limit by the stars and their entourages.Whitney Houston, Britney Spears, Geri Halliwell, Mariah Carey and the Fun Lovin' Criminals have brought with them armies of large scowling bodyguards and enough luxury cars to disgust the city's everyday motorists. The sight of white stretch limos is enough to unleash a frenzy that can be hard to negotiate, as the rapper Puff Daddy's driver learned this week: As a horde of teenaged fans roared their admiration, a motorcycle courier slid under the car, breaking his leg in the process. As it happened the excitement was misplaced: the American superstar was lying in his hotel resting his vocal chords for tonight's bash at Dublin's Point theatre. Hundreds of teenagers have spent the past few days standing outside the city's luxury hotels, fuelled by no more than Red Bull and lustful fantasies.But some of those who waited outside the event's champagne launch on Tuesday were disappointed by the low star count. DUBLIN MAY be Europe's capital of cool, but it has still worked itself into a sweat over tonight's MTV music awards. A spokesman for the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS) said the vast majority of complaints received by the Law Society were about customer service. The number of complaints against solicitors has been rising year on year and peaked at 25,000 in the summer.