THE Government was in retreat last night over Tony Blair's pledge to raise health spending in Britain to the European average by the time of the next General Election.

Four days after the Prime Minister reaffirmed his commitment in the House of Commons, Downing Street said it would not be sensible for ministers to be "pinned down" to a target ahead of next year's spending round.

Mr Blair had earlier signalled the start of the climbdown, telling a Sunday newspaper he had been speaking in "broad terms" when he first made the promise in a television interview last year.

His comments were greeted with astonishment by the Tories and Liberal Democrats, who said that the Government's policy on reforming the NHS had descended into chaos.

Downing Street denied that Mr Blair was backing away from his previous statements, when he said that NHS spending would be brought up to the EU average by 2005.

However, the Prime Minister's official spokesman made clear that there would be no specific commitments on spending levels ahead of next year's comprehensive spending review and the final report on NHS funding by ex-NatWest Bank chief executive, Derek Wanless.

"We are not going to get pinned down to one number in advance of all those pieces of work," the spokesman said.

"When you have major pieces of detailed work, which will be looking at figures which cover the next 20 years, it is not sensible to start writing spending budgets now."

A similar argument was used by Mr Blair in an interview with the Independent on Sunday.

He said: "I am not deciding spending levels now. I am saying in broad terms what I have said previously. We have in broad terms to match other European countries."

Health Secretary Alan Milburn also made clear that the target of raising NHS spending to European levels was now an aim to be achieved "over time" rather than a specific commitment.

"We are well on target to reach that eventual aim ... we can do that over time," he told BBC1's On the Record.