Summary
TONY Blair is promising a "change of gear" in the delivery of public services as he faces up to the lessons of last week's polling debacle in both the local elections south of the border and the Euro poll. Quite what gear Labour thinks it's in and what gear it wants to be in as far as public service delivery is concerned, the prime minister has largely left to our imaginations. All he's signalling at this stage is that he knows he's got to do something significant or risk another, more dramatic, electoral debacle next year.
If he's really serious about responding to popular concerns, Blair could do no better than start by reading the reflections of one of his own colleagues, John Denham, in the June issue of Prospect magazine, penned before last week's election results. Denham quit his ministerial post at the Home Office in March 2003 in protest at the war in Iraq. He is now chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee. He has also taken to heart his leader's idea of a big conversation with the country and has, over the past year, conducted his own extended conversation with voters in his Southampton Itchen constituency. Denham calls it his little big conversation.See the full content of this document
Extract
Perceived Lack of Fairness Causes People to Cry Foul
He wanted to find answers to a conundrum. Since Labour came to power, unemployment in Southampton has fallen, as it has across much of the UK. School standards have improved, hospital waiting lists have shortened, and extra financial help has arrived for thousands of families and...
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