In prime minister's question time yesterday, Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith attacked the government for its failure to improve the health service.

He asked if the prime minister agreed with his health minister "that the winter crisis now ends in July and begins in June?" and added that people who use the NHS knew it was not changing and the government was now missing many of its targets.

Blair told the Commons there was one key difference between Labour and the Conservatives. "We want the money to go in, you want to take it out.''

Earlier, Duncan Smith had kept up the pressure on embattled transport secretary Stephen Byers. Duncan Smith said: "Just what does it take for the prime minister to lose confidence in a minister?"

Blair challenged the Tories to say whether they supported the shareholders' demand for £3.60 for each share in compensation, saying that would cost the taxpayer £1 billion, cash better spent on the railways.