CONSERVATIVE MPs in Cheshire warned this week that tax increases in Labour's Budget would not deliver practical improvements to public services in the county.

Ann Winterton, Stephen O'Brien and George Osborne unsurprisingly slammed Chancellor Gordon Brown's one per cent rise in National Insurance to fund a £40 billion programme of investment in the NHS over the next five years.

Mr Osborne, MP for Tatton, said gimmicky tax cuts, like abolishing bingo tax, were dwarfed by the huge £8 billion rise in National Insurance taxes that would hit every business, every self-employed person and every working family.

"If I really believed that these extra taxes would lead to real improvements in health care then I would support them, but I don't and nor do most of the British people," he said.

He added that the NHS needed reform as well as money, and that every week desperate people in Tatton and elsewhere wrote to him, pleading for help to get treatment at local hospitals.

"I always try to help, but you should not have to write to your MP to get a heart by-pass operation," he said.

Middlewich MP Ann Winterton claimed the Government does not know how to make the NHS and public services better.

"This Budget is just more talk, more taxes, no change and no difference," she said.

Eddisbury MP Stephen O'Brien echoes Mrs Winterton's comments.

He said: "Every day, workers across my constituency will be losing significantly more from their pay packets.

"Cheshire and Eddisbury's residents deserve better."

There was criticism too from Colin Daniels, chief executive of Warrington and Vale Royal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He said: "Obviously we welcome the changes to Corporation Tax and Capital Gains Tax, which we hope will assist in the growth of small businesses.

"I am, however, greatly concerned at the one per cent surcharge on National Insurance contributions, which will impact disproportionately on the poorest sections of society.

"The change, together with the raising of the upper earnings limit, will raise employers' costs which will undermine job prospects."

But Northwich's Labour MP Mike Hall backed his party and welcomed the Budget, claiming last Wednesday's announcement of the long-term increase in health spending was good news for the town.

He said the Budget had delivered a balanced package for families, businesses and jobs.

He added: "We need long-term decisions to rebuild our health service, families and businesses.

"I welcome Wednesday's Budget for having the strength to make those decisions and do what needs to be done for Weaver Vale and Britain."

htutt@guardiangrp.co.uk