The public believes Gordon Brown's tax-for-health package is better for the country than any Budget for 25 years, a MORI poll for the Financial Times has found.

The enthusiastic response contrasts with the hostile reception from business, which will bear the brunt of the chancellor's £8.3bn increase in annual taxes.

The poll shows that 65 per cent of people thought the Budget was good for the country as a whole, compared with 20 per cent who saw it as bad.

This net balance of approval is bigger than for any Budget since 1977. The poll confirms that Mr Brown is more popular than any chancellor since Labour's Denis Healey.

It also shows Mr Brown is now more popular than Tony Blair, heightening speculation that he could succeed the prime minister if his Budget gamble pays off at the next general election.

Respondents were more cautious about whether it was good for them personally, with 45 per cent saying it was good for them, while 33 per cent believed it was bad.

The public has not swallowed Labour claims that the Budget represents a continuation of Labour's strategy since 1997. Fifty-nine per cent say it marks a change of direction, while only 27 per cent say it is in line with earlier policies. Even Labour supporters see it as a change of course.

Mr Blair denies Labour has been forced to depart from its low-tax ethos to fund higher spending on health. He said at the weekend it was "nonsense" to suggest this was "a reversion to old tax and spend".

Mr Brown has accepted that his Budget was a political gamble but not an economic one. He insisted it was "prudence for a purpose" - a continuation of the fiscal discipline he has adhered to since becoming chancellor in 1997.

The poll confirms that the balance of people opposed to Britain's entry into the European single currency has narrowed since euro notes and coins were launched in January, giving Mr Blair hope that he could win a referendum if Mr Brown said the economic tests had been met.

Forty-three per cent strongly support or generally favour UK participation in the euro, while 51 per cent strongly or generally oppose it. The net balance of -8 is narrower than -11 recorded by a previous MORI poll in February, and far narrower than the -27 recorded last May. Forty-six per cent of the public are waverers.

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