The chancellor has given a strong hint that he may be prepared to raise taxes in order to deliver greater levels of NHS investment.

In his first major interview of the year, Gordon Brown said his "mission" was to see the NHS getting the funding it requires.

Brown, who said he "had not ruled out tax changes", said people would be prepared to pay more if they believed the cash was being properly spent.

He said the April 17 budget would be a "budget for enterprise and public services".

Brown said that the NHS must keep up with advances in medical treatments and accepted that this could mean increased spending over coming years.

"What the public wants is a properly funded health service on a sustainable long-term footing and what they want to know is that they are achieving value for money for the investment essential for their reassurance about the health service being there when they need it," he told the Times.

Brown also challenged the Tories to admit that they were set to introduce charging for many routine aspects of NHS provision.

"The Conservative Party is toying with the idea of charges and private medical insurance. If they persist with these ideas the bipartisan consensus will have broken down," he said.

The shadow chancellor, Michael Howard, dismissed Brown's attack as further evidence of Labour's growing unease.

"We do not intend predicting what he will say in his budget, but for five years Labour have been raising taxes while public services have been worsening," he said.

"People are losing faith in Labour. Before hinting at further tax rises, Labour should be concentrating on improving public services with the money already raised."