Blair: letter

The prime minister has urged Labour MPs to "sell" the Budget to constituents.

The move indicates the degree of nervousness among ministers and officials about whether voters will see the government as returning to an "old Labour" tax and spend approach.

It follows media criticism of the Budget's impact on business and fears that the massive rises in NHS spending may not filter through to the improved delivery of frontline services.

Indicating the importance with which the government views its first openly tax raising Budget, Blair said in a letter to MPs that it was a "defining moment for the government and the country".

But he rejected suggestions that the New Labour approach was being abandoned.

"This is a New Labour Budget because it builds on the platform of hard-won economic stability that has delivered low inflation and mortgage rates and record high employment," wrote Blair.

As MPs returned to their constituencies for the weekend, they were urged to "sell" the Budget through local newspapers, radio interviews and visits to schools and hospitals.

They should "expose" the supposed Conservative policy of trying to undermine the NHS, said Blair.

"We must nail the lie that extra investment is pouring good money after bad. It is the fairest way and most efficient insurance system," he wrote.