The public does not believe that the National Health Service is going to improve despite the billions of pounds of extra money being pumped in by the Government, according to new polling evidence.

With Gordon Brown about to announce in the Budget on Wednesday a multi-billion pound increase in borrowing by the Government due to the downturn in both the British and the world economy, a poll for MORI reveals that 36 per cent of people believe that the NHS will get worse 'over the next few years'.

That compares to 29 per cent who believe that the NHS will improve and contrasts sharply with findings a year ago that the majority of the public believed that the NHS would improve.

The figures will strengthen worries in the Government that rapid increases in health spending has yet to filter through to the public despite large increases in the number of consultants and nurses and a widespread hospital building programme. Senior Whitehall sources have now admitted that the1 per cent rise in National Insurance rates which take effect today could increase the public's feeling of scepticism about the standard of public services.

The MORI findings also show that in the long term more people believe that Government policies will not improve the state of the economy, 43 per cent, than believe that they will improve it, 36 per cent.

Brown is expected to emphasise the increasing costs of the war effort in Iraq, around £3.5 billion, and a significant downturn in the per formance of the major European economies of Germany and France when he presents his most downbeat Budget since becoming Chancellor.

City economists believe that the Chancellor will announce that Britain will be around £30bn into the red over the next two years. But despite the increase in borrowing Whitehall sources said that he would rule out any increases in direct taxation on salaries and say that even with increased levels of debt Britain still borrowed far less as a proportion of national income compared to major European competitors.

'The long-term fundamentals are still secure,' said a Treasury source. 'People should not get bogged down in the year to year changes.'

It will be the second time in just over four months that Brown has had to announce a multi-billion pound increase in public borrowing. He will also admit that his forecasts for the economy were too optimistic, cutting 0.5 per cent off projected growth in the coming two years.

'Net borrowing is likely to be revised up a further cumulative amount of £23bn over the next three years [on top of the £20bn upward revision last November],' said John Butler, UK economist at the HSBC bank.

'That is an upward revision to net borrowing of £43bn in just four months - a mark of how dramatic the public finances have deteriorated.'

In a Budget which is expected to have few of the usual 'lollipops' announced in previous speeches, Brown is likely to announce further plans for a £500 'baby bond' as the starting point for a Government supported savings account for all individuals.

The Savings Gateway plan for adults, where the Government provides £1 for every £1 saved by those on lower incomes, will also be rapidly expanded after a series of successful pilot schemes.

New tax credits, a complex form of tax cut, for the less well off will also be announced, redistributing money from those on middle and higher incomes to those below the average wage. Pensioners will also receive a boost to their annual incomes with a new minimum income guarantee.

The Chancellor will also announce a tightening of tax loopholes to raise more money, with a crackdown on tax avoidance in particular.

· The MORI Delivery Index is based on 969 telephone interviews with adults from 28-31 March. For more information: www.mori.com