PERTH, Scotland (AP)--Prime Minister Tony Blair gave his bluntest warning yet Friday that taxes may be raised to boost the U.K.'s sagging health system and other social welfare programs. In Scotland to address the annual conference of the governing Labor Party, Blair said the government was trying to counter years of inadequate investment in the National Health System and that income tax might have to be hiked. "We can either underinvest in our public services and end up paying in different ways, or invest in general taxation, or we can go for the (opposition) Conservative system and make people pay for their health care," Blair told Radio Clyde. Blair has been hinting all week that tax increases may be necessary to boost the health system. There is growing concern that the system fails to provide adequate care and patients often have to wait months or even years for operations. There is speculation about what taxes the government might rise. Blair's remarks Friday were the strongest sign yet that any increase would be in the general income tax rate paid by virtually all workers.