Ministers 'should do real jobs'

Ms Blears spent time working in a supermarket

Cabinet meetings could be held in town halls and ministers could take time out to do "real" jobs to help them remain "grounded", says Hazel Blears.

The communities secretary, who worked in a supermarket for three days in 2006, warned colleagues in a speech not to become too remote and out of touch.

Ms Blears said many people thought politicians lived in their own world.

Her Conservative shadow Eric Pickles said it showed Labour ministers were "out of touch" with people's concerns.

In a speech to the Social Market Foundation, Ms Blears called for a "new politics", saying the current system was not working - as evidenced in falling voter turnout at elections and the lowest turnouts in the most deprived areas.

'Remain normal'

She added that the rows over MPs' expenses had been damaging and there was a sense "that politics is a tainted activity, something disreputable at best, corrupt at worst" as well as an "overwhelming sense of powerlessness" felt by voters.

She said: "Every government minister should immerse themselves in the lives and communities of the people they serve.

Just imagine if the Cabinet meeting took place at the British Legion, Swindon, the Town Hall, Grimsby, or the Victoria Community Centre in Crewe Hazel Blears

"It is all too easy for ministers to become remote, cooped up in departmental offices, driven from meeting to meeting, and enveloped by civil servants.

"We need to create the space for ministers to remain grounded and normal."

She said people thought politicians were living in their own world, "unaware of the harsh realities".

'Anti-politics'

"Just imagine if the Cabinet meeting took place at the British Legion, Swindon, the Town Hall, Grimsby, or the Victoria Community Centre in Crewe. There is no good reason why not," she said.

And she said cabinet ministers spending time away from their offices "doing a real job" should become "the norm".

This is an effective admission that Labour ministers in Whitehall are out of touch Eric Pickles Conservatives

Later this summer Ms Blears will unveil a White Paper on passing power to communities, to give people "new access points to the political system".

She favours a major transfer of local assets - like parks, swimming pools and community halls - from the local council to co-operatives and social enterprises, which should generate an income and get people involved in the "skills of democracy".

In an interview with the BBC earlier, Ms Blears said there was "a bit of anti-politics" around and the key was to give people a bigger say in what happens to increase trust.

'Not helpful'

She was asked whether it was wrong for Cherie Blair and John Prescott to include private matters in their memoirs, Ms Blears said: "I don't think it's helpful at all and I think a lot of party members are pretty angry about that.

"They know the priority is to get out there and take the fight to the Tories."

For the Conservatives, Eric Pickles said Ms Blears' speech was "an effective admission that Labour ministers in Whitehall are out of touch with the interests and concerns of the British people".

He added: "But spending a day stacking shelves in Tesco clearly failed to bring home to ministers the effect of Gordon Brown's 10p tax hike on the low paid."