Warm words bid to build confidence

Blair faces opposition to private funding of public services

By Mark Davies BBC News Online political reporter

It comes with all the bells and whistles almost always associated with a Tony Blair initiative.

The release on Thursday of a pamphlet outlining the government's plans for public services reform had all the usual trimmings.

A Downing Street launch. A carefully selected photo opportunity. A twist, in the form of a discussion of the plans between Mr Blair and 12 public sector workers.

But the criticism will be the same as well. More PR, more spin. Public services are in a pickle - let's produce a pamphlet.

Blair has put schools at the heart of his reforms

What is important about the initiative is that it is an acknowledgement from Mr Blair that he needs to do more to convince people of his plans.

In particular, he needs to win over the very people who actually deliver services - nurses, teachers, police officers.

The problem for the government is not only that it is not winning the argument - as rank and file resistance to police reform underlines - it is that it is not making the argument clearly enough.

A few weeks ago, the message from the podium at Labour's spring conference was that the "wreckers" must not hold sway as Mr Blair seeks to modernise public services.

Union anger

There were also, to be fair, warm words for public sector workers.

But that message was lost in the fog of union anger over talk of wreckers, leaving the government's message appearing muddled.

Whether it is the unions or the Conservatives the government was blaming, it wasn't clear enough to avoid anger from union bosses.

Mr Blair's latest attempt to seize the initiative may go some way to clarifying his position.

But there are other problems in the drive to reform schools, hospitals and other services.

Amid widespread opposition to involving the private sector in such reform, the government now faces warnings from the business community.

Alarm over Railtrack

While Labour has often appeared dazzled by rubbing shoulders with the private sector, business leaders are more circumspect.

City fund managers alarmed by the decision to put Railtrack into administration have warned that future deals for financing public sector services would come with higher interest rates.

Business leaders also want their partnerships with the public sector to come with maximum flexibility.

And the launch of Mr Blair's pamphlet has been damaged by reports of plans to renege on proposals to protect the rights of public sector workers who move to private firms under public-private partnerships.

The government had assured unions that workers in this position would be given the same rights enjoyed while working in the public sector.

Gesture

But business leaders are wary of such a promise, and a leaked report is said to suggest dropping the pledge.

So it is against this backdrop that Mr Blair now seeks to win over public sector workers.

Nothing new is expected from the pamphlet, leaving it open to dismissal by the government's opponents as a mere gesture

Perhaps public sector workers sceptical of the plans needed some sort of gesture at the moment.

They certainly need to be reassured that they are valued partners in reform rather than those fingered by ministers as the "wreckers" opposing change.

Warm words are one thing, but not much use when the government is already beset by the criticism that it is all spin and no substance.

And it seems unlikely that without anything genuinely new to say, the latest initiative will struggle to create the confidence among public sector workers that Mr Blair so desperately needs.