If there are any lingering doubts that the government is in full-blown election mode then the latest comments from Tony Blair and Gordon Brown should dispel them.

The BBC's Rachel Hooper; "Gordon Brown's determined to continue tough discipline in monetary and fiscal policy"

In the most important economic statements since the Budget, the chancellor has declared that the economy is doing so well he can revise his predictions of growth upwards.

He is backed up by independent analysts who also believe the UK economy - having avoided the much-predicted recession - is now doing far better than expected.

There has been a spate of good figures for Mr Brown, from employment to inflation, and his latest statement that growth over the next couple of years will be at the higher end of his forecasts adds to the feelgood factor.

At the same time we have seen both Mr Brown and the prime minister insisting there is no "war chest" of cash being salted away for pre-election handouts.

The government will only spend money it has earned and that has actually been generated, the chancellor has insisted.

That means he will not use projected income to finance a spending spree.

Election goodies

And, once again, his good friend "prudence" has been brought out of the closet to both reassure the City there will be no loosening of the tight regime and to dampen down union expectations.

Cynics don't believe a word of it. They reckon that, like all governments before it, Tony Blair's will offer voters a bagfull of goodies before the election.

The revised forecasts mean the government could have an extra £4bn to £5bn in its coffers over the next two years boosting the alleged war chest to around £20bn.

That money could be used to cut taxes and whip the pre-election rug from under the Tories, or to boost spending to fulfil the last election pledges on health and education - areas where voters are becoming increasingly disillusioned with the government.

And ministers are going to come under intense pressure from groups like the unions to use the money to do one or both of those before the next poll.

All the signals from the recent speeches by Mr Blair and Mr Brown suggest that the optimum time to go for an election will be 2001.

The chancellor has insisted: "I'm not going to spend money that we have not yet earned. We have set down spending plans we are going to honour, not just this year but over the next two years. I'm not going to speculate about what we can do after that until we have earned that money.

"We will spend money when it's necessary because we have earned it and these will be decisions we will make in the future."

He also claimed that there would be more jobs and greater prosperity in 2001.

Cabinet meeting

But the Tories smell a rat and believe the prime minister is planning a giveaway budget and a dash to the country next year.

Anything is possible, of course, but if the chancellor's predictions are right then - barring the unforeseen - 2001 still looks favourite.

And Tony Blair is already planning for it. He put his top team on war footing at a special Cabinet meeting at Chequers recently and he has launched a concerted campaign to trumpet the government's successes.