IF all the leaks prove to be true - and we're sure they will - today is the day that the Government becomes really bold.

It is the day Tony Blair and Gordon Brown take their biggest gamble by asking the electorate to pay higher taxes for a better National Health Service.

We want the Government to be bold. It was, after all, elected to be bold.

After five years, we want it to be radical instead of trying to please everyone with the aid of a touch of spin here and there.

For all the dedication and expertise at its disposal, the NHS falls woefully short of meeting the needs of the people and truly historic change is required.

And, if the Government is suddenly going to become bold, let us hope it will also be bold with regard to the North-East, where so many of its most loyal supporters live and work.

Just as it has pussy-footed around over how to fund an effective health service, the Government has also tiptoed around the underlying problems facing our region, encapsulated in the phrase "the North-South divide".

While cosmetic marketing exercises are under way to make us proud of living in the North-East "here and now", the fundamental issue of unfair funding remains at the root of the region's needs.

Today's Budget coincides with a meeting of North-East councils at which Government funding will be a key agenda item.

In the run-up to announcing council tax levels, several - including Durham County Council - complained passionately about being in their worst financial position for many years.

The accusation was that the Government was more interested in buttering up the South, where the more vulnerable seats are to be contested.

And all the time, the Government - fearful of upsetting other regions - has turned a deaf ear to the persistent calls for a review of the out-dated Barnett Formula, which clearly discriminates against the North-East when Government cash is shared out. The real need is in the North-East - here and now.

We look forward to hearing from the bold Chancellor today. And we hope his newly-discovered boldness is infectious.