SPOKESMAN BOOKS
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Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation
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Catalogue
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Socialist Renewal - fifth series: 3
B
In a few months' time New Labour will be
celebrating 10 years as Her Majesty's Government, says Keith Popple.
Much will be made in the period up to this anniversary of the achievement -
the longest the party has ever been in power.
On their watch New Labour have achieved a good deal, particularly in
introducing a statutory minimum wage, and moving some of the poorest parents
and children, and the oldest people in our population, out of poverty.
However, New Labour will also be known for their adherence to neo-liberal
economics and the marketisation of public services. In the past decade, New
Labour have moved the expectations and perceptions of the population to a
position where greater credence is given to individual choice and
self-interest than to supporting the collective approach to common public
issues.
New Labour has demonstrated a desire to move as much of the public sector into
the hands of the private market as is possible. Ideas that were only in
germination during the previous Conservative government are now being put in
place at an amazing pace. Dexter Whitfield's book is a key text for all those
who want chapter and verse of one of the biggest changes to have taken place
in the public sector since most of it was created in the post-war settlement.
Whitfield provides us with the arguments and the detail that clearly
demonstrate what New Labour have been up to during the last 10 years in this
accessible yet, at times, scholarly work.
Not a happy read for those who had visions of New Labour delivering a fairer
and more democratic society.
Keith Popple is professor of social work at London South Bank University
See books by Keith Popple
Price: £11.99
ISBN: 978 085 24 7151
paperback
