WELL, we asked for it. The British people have regularly told pollsters that we would be willing to pay more tax to improve the health service.

Indeed, New Labour won another landslide last year because it rightly judged that voters' top priority was better public services, rather than Tory tax cuts.

Nevertheless, Labour has breached our trust on taxes. One of their most prominent pledges before the last election was that income tax would not go up. But the rise in National Insurance is an income tax rise in all but name.

So in yesterday's Budget, Gordon Brown broke a key election promise by forcing us all to make a greater investment in the National Health Service. And the extra burden on business could lead to a rise in unemployment.

No wonder the Chancellor today called his Budget "a political gamble".

Which brings us to the "if". If it comes off, this will be seen as a remarkable, even heroic Budget.

For years the NHS has been undermined by underfunding. Britain spent less on health than other major nations and the NHS now trails far behind state-of-the-art health care in France and Germany.

Mr Brown says we now have an historic opportunity to catch up. He is committing the country to a huge investment programme taking health spending to £105 billion by 2008.

The trouble is, the next election is due long before that. It takes at least seven years to train a doctor, but we will want to see significant improvements before we vote Blair again. At the very least this means shortened waiting lists and an end to bed blocking.

Yes, we are happy to pay more tax if it delivers a truly first class NHS. But there is a genuine concern that without fundamental reform, much of the money will be wasted on bureaucracy.

Mr Brown has prescribed a massive injection of cash for the ailing health service. It is a radical, kill or cure treatment - both for the NHS and for Labour's electoral chances.

Updated: 10:25 Thursday, April 18, 2002