Public sector reform has failed us all

As the Blair era comes to and end, there is and has already been much reflection on the past 10 years. Reform was always at the top of the New Labour agenda way back when before 1997. It was greeted with cheers and provided hope to the masses. Unfortunately, the reality is where New Labour say reform read unwanted, poorly thought out, unneeded meddling. Liam Byrne, the former home secretary, Charles Clarke and the work and pensions secretary, John Hutton have contributed to a newly published book titled "Public Matters" which is pretty damning of the new Labour reform programmes. It states the reforms have "-been marked by much policy and communications confusion, launching off into too many different directions, talking about means (ie, use of the private sector) when we should be focusing on ends, and in the process, unnecessarily alienating public service professionals and front line staff-".

Do not expect the book to go on to produce any worthwhile answers and is likely to be a manifesto harking back to the Old Labour days. However, it does make the serious and valid point that everyone from Old and new Labour and most importantly the people of the UK have just about had enough of the political meddling for the sake of looking like something is being done to our public services.