Blair's tax pledge as widow hits out over Iraq war

• Tories believe they made the right decisions to go to war in Iraq

• Estranged wife of soldier blames Blair for his death

• Labour campaign managers concerned Iraq issue on election agenda could hurt them badly

Key quote The bottom line is if they hadn’t been over there, Anthony would still be alive today" - Ann Toward, Guardsman Wakefield’s estranged wife

Story in full TONY Blair last night made a desperate attempt to shift the election debate away from Iraq with an 11th-hour promise not to increase National Insurance contributions if he is re-elected.

The Prime Minister’s promise - which followed weeks of evasion on Labour’s third-term tax plans - came as Labour struggled to gain the initiative during a bruising day of accusations over the death of a British soldier in Iraq.

In 2002, the government raised NI contributions on workers and employers to pay for more spending on the NHS. That hike came after pre-election hints that Labour would do no such thing.

Last night, Mr Blair told Channel Four News that the NI rise three years ago had been a one-off.

He was asked if he could assure voters that NI would not have to rise to fund the NHS beyond the end of the current spending round in 2008.

Mr Blair replied: "Correct. The National Insurance rise takes care of the catch-up needed for the health service."

The unexpected and unscheduled promise came after Labour leaders were yet again forced on to the defensive yesterday by the war in Iraq, and, in particular, by criticism from the grieving family of Anthony Wakefield, a Coldstream Guardsman killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq on Monday.

Yesterday, the mother of the 24-year-old soldier’s children made clear she holds Mr Blair personally responsible for his death. Guardsman Wakefield, from Newcastle, was the 87th member of the British armed forces to die in Iraq.

"Tony Blair is to blame," Ann Toward, Guardsman Wakefield’s estranged wife said in Newcastle yesterday. "The bottom line is if they hadn’t been over there, Anthony would still be alive today."

Guardsman Wakefield’s mother, Ann Wakefield, said on Monday night she, too, held the Prime Minister accountable for her son’s death.

The attack from the bereaved women yesterday put Mr Blair on the spot. But the Prime Minister maintained his recent stance of holding his ground on Iraq, insisting that he cannot retreat from his belief that ordering the March 2003 invasion was the right thing to do. As for Guardsman Wakefield’s family, Mr Blair insisted that he could offer nothing more than sympathy.

"I’ve expressed my deep sympathy and condolences to the family," the Prime Minister said while campaigning in Gloucester. "I really don’t think there’s anything I can, or should, say more than that, and I don’t think it’s right or appropriate to do so."

Throughout the recent flaring up of the row over Iraq - which began last week with the leaking of the Attorney General’s advice on the dubious legal case for war - Mr Blair has resolutely refused to yield to his critics, and admitted that he has effectively given up trying to persuade them about the case for war.

So yesterday, it fell to Gordon Brown to give Labour’s most detailed response to the dead soldier’s family.

The Chancellor, who has been almost constantly at Mr Blair’s side throughout the election campaign, has recently surprised many of his supporters - and delighted Mr Blair’s allies - with his staunch defence of the war.

"Anybody who has suffered grief and loss will understand the feelings and the difficulties that this family is facing today and our thoughts must be, initially, with them," the Chancellor said yesterday.

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have repeatedly attacked the government over the war, and Mr Brown conceded that there are "lessons to learn" from the affair.

But on the essential decision to go to war, Mr Brown said there could be no compromise or regret.

"We believed we were making the right decisions in the British national economic interests," he said.

"At the end of the day we wanted the security of Britain and the British national interest to be advanced."

With less than a day to go before the polls open - and as many as six million people already voting by post - Labour campaign managers are genuinely concerned that the dominant position Iraq still occupies on the election agenda could hurt them badly.

While dire warnings that defections to the Lib Dems could usher in a Tory government are seen by commentators as a deliberate exaggeration, there is no doubt that party officials are concerned the war could cut the Labour majority and swing several marginals.

With that in mind, Labour last night rushed out a draft Queen’s Speech of renewed domestic pledges, only weeks after publishing a densely detailed policy manifesto .

Under the heading "Providing Opportunity for All," Labour promised bills to "help parents balance work and home", and a legal ban on smoking in enclosed spaces in England.

The "Creating Safe and Secure Communities" agenda promises national identity cards, an immigration bill, a violent crime bill and a new anti-terrorism law.