Alistair Darling refuses to back NHS spending pledge

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The Chancellor refused four times in a radio interview to say Andy Burnham was right to insist health spending would continue rising after 2011.

Instead he made clear he will make decisions in the next spending review, expected before the election.

"I quite deliberately said at the Budget that I was not going to make allocations in individual departments after 2011 now because of the uncertainty over the economy," he said on BBC radio.

His words were in marked contrast with Mr Burnham, one of the ministers pushing for an immediate commitment to higher NHS spending from 2011 to put the Conservatives on the spot.

He said in a TV interview last week: "I am committing to you that this budget remains and I am also committing to you, in the way that the Prime Minister has, that we will continue to maintain growth in health spending in the following period."

Independent analysts say that if NHS spending rises other departments will have to shoulder 10 per cent cuts.

In his Mansion House speech tonight to the City, the Chancellor is expected to affirm his determination to "live within our means" by putting pressure on Whitehall spending budgets over the next five years.

He will also defend the tripartite system of financial regulation established by Gordon Brown a decade ago, despite criticism it failed to avert the banking crisis.

Mr Darling will say that the first line of defence in future must be by banks raising their leadership rather than relying on a new regulator.

The Conservatives are calling for major regulation changes, including greater powers for the Bank of England.

The tripartite system relies on the Financial Services Authority, the Treasury and the Bank of England to oversee banks.

In his interview, Mr Darling denied his approach was weaker than that of Barack Obama, who was today unveiling plans for tougher regulation in the United States.

They included the Federal Reserve taking over companies whose collapse could damage the financial system and executives' pay and bonuses being capped.