30 September 2005
Public service unions are vowing to step up their opposition to the government's controversial reform programme after bloodying ministers' noses over pensions and the NHS at the Labour Party conference in Brighton.
Pressure on ministers to water down radical plans to transform public services has been ratcheted up after the debates on the motions dominated proceedings on the final full day of this year's conference.
Prime Minister Tony Blair, delivering his set-piece speech on September 27, signalled his determination to up the pace of reforms across the public services.
'Command public services today are no more acceptable than a command economy. The twenty-first century's expectations in public services are a world away from those of 1945. People demand quality, choice, high standards, because in every other walk of life they demand them,' Blair told the conference.
But the government suffered a humiliating defeat over its plans to reform public sector pension schemes on September 28, despite an impassioned speech from Work and Pensions Secretary David Blunkett calling for co-operation between the unions and government.
On the same afternoon, a motion demanding a root-and-branch review of the private sector's involvement in the NHS, and a suspension of any further expansion, went to a card vote after a show of hands failed to prove conclusive.
The result was widely expected to endorse the motion. Unison general secretary Dave Prentis, who proposed the motion and had backing from the other public service unions, told Public Finance he was confident of victory. 'We've won the argument. Now we… want the mess around primary care trusts sorted out.'
Prentis vowed to build 'broader alliances', with other unions, professional groups and service user representatives, to forge a campaign to halt what he sees as the 'increasing privatisation' of the NHS.
In the preceding debate, Prentis accused ministers of 'government by diktat' and demanded a review of 'the role of markets and competition' in the health service.
Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt pleaded with delegates to support the motion backing the government's position. She said that, even with the reform programme, just 1% of the total NHS budget would go to the private sector and only 10% of that spent on elective services.
Meanwhile, the overwhelming backing given to the motion attacking the government's plans for pensions reform, starkly illustrated the scale of the problems.
Opponents are staunchly opposed to attempts to reduce the benefits offered by public sector pension schemes and are concerned that Lord Turner's commission, due to report in November, will recommend that people work longer and for fewer benefits.
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