http://society.guardian.co.uk/futureforpublicservices/comment/0,8146,1561456,00.html
Neal Lawson:
"John Hutton, the Cabinet Office minister, made a speech to the Social Market Foundation thinktank about how choice in the public sector would dominate this reform agenda. In the name of social justice, Hutton said, the government would 'harness and manage the modern tools of competition and choice'.
These are not 'modern tools' but the tried and tested means of markets to create winners and losers - thus exacerbating social injustice. Health inspectors are already warning of a two-tier service because of the choice agenda. But the issue is not why New Labour is wrong to champion choice but why it is willing to champion it at all. The answers tell us much about New Labour's political instincts and strategy."
