Policy Announcements, Tuesday 17 April

Government  

• Tony Blair has urged his successor to retain his "unique foreign policy" in order to maintain international influence. At his monthly press conference on Tuesday, the prime minister unveiled his policy review on 'Britain in the world'. He said it was a description of the principles that have guided the government in foreign affairs in the past 10 years and a prescription for action in the future. Blair argued that three elements had characterised his international attitudes. "Firstly we have been prepared in a way that few other countries have, to combine what you might call 'hard and soft power'," he said. "Secondly it has been a foreign policy that has been underpinned by two alliances," he added, referring to relations with the US and EU and saying he had "eschewed" demands to choose between them. And "the third thing is that it has been to a considerable degree driven by values", the prime minister argued.  

Conservatives  

• The Conservative party unveiled proposals to create a national schools bus service as part of its commitment to green transport. The details emerged as it appeared that the government may miss its target to create "greener schools" because headteachers felt burdened by "initiative overload" and bureaucracy.  

EU  

• A Lords committee has criticised plans to create a European Institute of Technology. In a report published on Tuesday, the European Union committee expressed scepticism about the plans being put forward by the European Commission. The new body is designed to help convert European research results into commercial opportunities by creating a network of six 'knowledge and innovation communities'. These communities would promote innovation and knowledge-transfer between the private sector, research organisations and higher education institutions. The peers concluded that while the proposal addresses a serious problem, more needs to be done to establish how incentives could be introduced for the business community to become involved.