Blair to underline tax warning

Tony Blair is today set to hammer home his warning that steep tax rises are on the way to pay for a better NHS.

In a keynote speech in Scotland, the message that the country must prepare itself for pain when the Chancellor delivers his Budget in the spring is expected to be stronger than ever.

His conviction that the country will have to stump up the billions of pounds in investment necessary to see radical improvements will go down well among the delegates at the Scottish Labour Conference, where Mr Blair is pushing at an open door when he talks of high spending.

But the Prime Minister, who since coming to power has been preoccupied with not frightening middle England with talk of tax rises, is facing an enormous personal test over the issue.

In his speech this afternoon he is expected to reinforce the second part of his message - that the money will only help if the Government is allowed to drive through reforms, which the unions oppose.

These include working with the private sector to build and maintain new hospitals and also providing some NHS services privately. The Prime Minister knows he has a bigger issue to tackle - how to break down the professional boundaries between different groups of staff.