THE GOVERNMENT'S hopes of as return of the elusive "feelgood factor" got a big boost today.

For High Street spending has surged to 7.5 per cent higher than a year ago, showing that consumer confidence is coming back.

And estate agents reported that the revival in housing has restored the market to its strongest for two years.

Add to this, the official figures showing inflation in manufacturers' factory-gate prices at its lowest since December, 1994, and it all amounts to a triple tonic for the economy - but is it one for the troubled Tories?

It is too late, we think, to save them from a wipe-out in the local elections next month . And the rate at which "feelgood" sinks in may be too slow to spare them a hiding if, as is now increasingly likely, a general election happens this year.

Indeed, the glum upshot for them of "feelgood's" return may be that it is a new Labour government that basks in it - thanks to an economy left to them in great shape by the Tories.

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