THE great debating point following this week's Budget is whether the Government can convert the billions of pounds it is raising from increased National Insurance contributions into discernable improvements in the health service.

In the North-East and North Yorkshire however, it could be argued Mr Brown has missed an opportunity to spend a tiny fraction of those billions on public works which would bring immediate and tangible benefits to the region.

The day before Mr Brown launched his raid on the incomes of middle England, the North-East Chamber of Commerce highlighted the continuing anomaly of the region's poor road links to the South and North-West. It remains the only region without a decent motorway route to the rest of the country.

Whilst the inadequacies of the A1 and A66 in North Yorkshire have been extensively catalogued in this newspaper and elsewhere, it is becoming increasingly obvious that the two-lane A1 motorway in County Durham is struggling to cope too.

Ironically, on the same day the chamber launched its campaign for infrastructure improvements to assist the economic regeneration of the region, it was revealed that the Department of Transport is heading for a £1bn underspend this year. Other Government departments are struggling to spend the money at their disposal too. It does not auger well for Mr Brown's National Health Service bonanza