Government must 'change or die'

Mr Blunkett warned the time for change is now

Labour will not win a third term if it does not win back the trust of the voters, David Blunkett has warned.

"It is going to be a very big challenge to rebuild trust," the home secretary told BBC 1's Breakfast with Frost programme.

"We've got to show people where we're going and relate to people's lives and show we are on their side. If we don't change then we die," he said.

Mr Blunkett's comments come after Labour suffered its first Commons by-election defeat in 15 years, losing the key north London seat of Brent East to the Liberal Democrats.

Sarah Teather seized the formerly safe Labour seat by more than 1,100 votes, on Thursday, overturning a 13,047 majority with a 29% swing.

Grass roots

Mr Blunkett admitted it had been difficult for the government to maintain its relationship with the electorate in "the midst of the noise around us like the war in Iraq and the Hutton enquiry."

He said: "We need to get back in touch at the grass roots level and make the time for listening and campaigning that we used to before we got bogged down with running things recently.

"We know we've got to renew ourselves and we discussed this on Thursday in Cabinet. We need to renew our connection with the electorate," he added.

However, he said the government must continue to push through its controversial public service reforms - but explain them better to the voters.

Reform

Earlier, former Transport Secretary Stephen Byers also said Labour movement must rally behind Tony Blair and his reform programme or risk losing power.

Mr Byers told the GMTV Sunday Programme Tony Blair "must continue on a path of reform" or "be condemned to more years of opposition."

And Leader of the House of Commons, Peter Hain, said the government should "show more humility and listen more" following the "dreadful result" at Brent East.

"We need to make sure that we stress all the time that the government is not just about ramming reform down people's throats," he said.

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Mr Blunkett admitted it was a tough job to "square the circle of being both hands on and hands off at the same time" when dealing with issues which affected people at a local level.

"If we're going to have a third term it will be about modernising, preparing Britain, helping people with rapid change, dealing with the global economy, and routing it locally," he pledged.

Downing Street's outgoing director of communications Alastair Campbell said the Brent East result showed the government was going through a "difficult period".

"Governments go through difficult periods. But the reality is that if governments do the right thing for people's living standards and jobs and public services, they will get there in the end," he said.