Prime Minister Tony Blair has defended the government's 1p tax increase, by insisting the hike was necessary to cut NHS waiting lists.

The penny levy on National Insurance contributions being introduced in April was a "difficult thing to do", Mr Blair acknowledged.

The NHS was not "all perfect", he said, but it should "strive to be the best in Europe".

One way to do that was through setting waiting list targets, he said.

Mr Blair, in an interview with BBC2's Newsnight programme, said he understood the concerns about waiting list targets - such as creating more bureaucracy and paperwork.

But he insisted they were an important part of management of the NHS.

"We're putting up people's taxes in April to put more money into the health service.

"We have to be able to show real outcomes as a result of that."

The problem people found with the NHS was that "they wait too long to get into it, and so people wait too long to see a consultant, they wait too long to see the GP, they wait too long for their operation.

People wait too long to see a consultant, they wait too long to see the GP, they wait too long for their operation Tony Blair

"And it's difficult for us to justify spending the money unless we're saying 'but we've also got to cut the time that you have to wait'."

Mr Blair described opposition claims that there were more managers than beds in the NHS as "nonsense".

He said there were 26,000 NHS managers across the UK, and that the money spent on management in the health service had fallen under his government.

Focusing on cancer treatment, he said people who needed treatment for cancer were being seen more quickly under his administration.

Cancer treatment

"It's still got a long way to go, don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying it's perfect, by no means is it that - but is not correct to say that cancer treatment in this country is not getting better.

"For example, you now get seen - if you did have suspected prostate cancer, you would be seen within two weeks by a specialist.

"Ninety-seven per cent of people are seen within two weeks. If you go back five or six years it was only just 60%."

Success rates for breast cancer were increasing "probably faster than most European countries", Mr Blair added.

Patients said they had had good experience of the NHS, the prime minister insisted, but conceded: "If you ask them what the National Health Service is like overall a lot of people will say 'Well we're not sure about it'."