Blunkett's caution on reform

Home Secretary David Blunkett is today issuing a warning that there is a limit to what ministers can achieve in delivering public service reforms.

In a keynote speech to the Labour spring conference in Cardiff, he is expected to stress the need to spell out to voters what the Government can and can not do.

His cautionary tone will be taken as a sign of the Government's nervousness about public service reform, which has returned to the top of the political agenda following the recent controversies over the NHS and the railways.

Several ministers have concerns that Labour has raised unrealistic expectations over what can be achieved in hospitals, schools and transport, and that more emphasis should be placed on the 10-year timescale set for reform.

Mr Blunkett will stress that ministers are not seeking to wash their hands of their responsibilities, but that the "worst of all worlds" for any government was " responsibility without power".

He will argue that ministers need to promote the idea of "on-your-side Government", which helps people do things at local level rather than pretend that everything can be controlled from Whitehall.