Although most business leaders have described the figure - recommended by the Low Pay Commission - as acceptable, the Conservative party have strongly criticised it.

David Willets Conservative employment spokesman: "The minimum wage is going to cause higher unemployment"

"It's part of a process whereby the British jobs market which became so much more flexible over the last 15 years is gradually going to become less flexible," David Willets, the party's employment spokesman, told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme.

"The danger is that gradually Britain ceases to be the most competitive environment in Europe."

President of the Board of Trade Margaret Beckett, interviewed on BBC Radio 4's World at One

He also quoted the Bank of England's fears that the minimum wage could push up inflation, but, speaking on the same programme, the President of the Board of Trade, Margaret Beckett, rejected those concerns.

"What the Bank of England said, very carefully, was that the national minimum wage may have implications for inflation, it is a very far cry from what is a simple statement of fact ... to making the sweeping assumptions made by David Willets."

Catering: One of the areas business leaders say will suffer

The government is also likely to face criticism from the other end of the political spectrum. Trade unions believe the overall rate of £3.60 is too low.

Dave Harper, a roadsweeper in Wandsworth, south London, said: "I really think the minimum wage should be at least £4.60 an hour, which will just about allow me to break even on my household and general expenses.

"At the moment I'm finding it very very hard to exist."

John Edmonds General Secretary of the General Municipal and Boilermakers Union; "The figure is a disappointment"

Unions are even more unhappy that the commission recommended excluding workers aged between 16 and 18 from the minimum wage.

It proposed a lower rate of pay at £3.20 for those aged 18 to 21.

'Sweat economy'

Rodney Bickerstaffe: "Who can honestly say this figure is not sweated labour?"

Rodney Bickerstaffe, general secretary of Unison, Britain's largest trade union, said he would continue to campaign for £4.61 an hour.

More than 40% of Unison's members earn less than £4.42 and the union says there is evidence which suggests that a minimum wage at that level could help create jobs.

Bickerstaffe: Vowed to continue campaign

Mr Bickerstaffe said: "Surely at the end of the 20th century to sweat someone in a rich nation like ours for as little as £3.60 an hour does not do credit to a people committed to fairness and social justice.

"The commission has had unparalleled pressure put on them by the government to ensure it's a low figure."

"I hope it doesn't take as long to get a decent level as it took to get the minimum wage established in the first place."

Employers happy

Sir Colin Marshall, president of the Confederation of British Industry, described £3.60 as "acceptable" to employers.

But while most employers' organisations are happy with the rate of £3.60, the Forum of Private Business, which represents 23,700 companies, has urged the government to "think twice" before implementing the minimum wage.

"The government has made a fundamental mistake by singling out young people for different treatment," said Stan Mendham, chief executive of the FPB.

Women are likely to be most affected by the wage

"It should have made small and medium-sized businesses the special case and introduced a minimum wage using a sliding scale based on the number of employees."

The FPB believes £3.25 would have been a better starting rate, and they have been backed up by Alan Shone, who owns and runs residential and nursing homes in Merseyside.

He told the World at One that most of his 100 employees earned between £3 and £3.20 an hour, and warned he could make older workers redundant.

"If people under a certain age are not going to be affected by a minimum wage, then that's going to be the attraction for us.