Brown sets out manifesto with vision of new rights

Gordon Brown pledged to give parents and patients a raft of new rights to personalised services today as he finally outlined his "vision" for Britain's future.

In a clear attempt to draw the battle lines for the next election, the Prime Minister set out a package of plans —including his draft Queen's Speech of new laws — seen as amounting to an early Labour manifesto. Tory leader David Cameron called it a "relaunch without a spending tag" and claimed that many of the announcements were either recycled or unworkable.

Speaking ahead of his statement to the Commons, Mr Brown said: "We have targets that are national, we now want to move to personal entitlements."

But it was left to Business Secretary Lord Mandelson to outline the new plan, titled Building Britain's Future, as he claimed that "the worst is behind us" on the economy and suggested fresh growth would fund front line health and education services.

He said that the Conservatives were opposed to national targets and new rights for parents and patients because they were in hock to teachers, police and doctors who didn't want change.

"The Tories, in my view, have entered into a sort of Faustian pact with producer interests in the public services; they are saying they will spend less on public services and they are also saying they will require less of them."

In a clear bid to shore up Labour's core vote, the Prime Minister was set to unveil moves to give local people greater priority on council waiting lists, long seen as a problem exploited by the British National Party.

And in the clearest example yet of how the Government will seek to juggle its finances, it emerged that housing will get a £500 million boost for new homes by taking cash away from the Home Office and Department for Transport, as well as bringing forward spending earmarked for later years.

Some Labour strategists believe that the party's traditional vote is in real danger following the inroads made by the BNP at the European elections when the far-Right party won two seats.

Housing minister John Healey explained that the extra cash had to be accompanied by new rules making clear that the council house list was being allocated "fairly".

"When people see new homes being built in their area, they need to believe that they, their friends or families have a fair shot at living in them," he told the Standard.

The Tories said today's framework from Mr Brown — originally dubbed a "National Plan" before aides warned it would sound too Stalinist — was a string of recycled announcements.

As Lord Mandelson confirmed that the spending review would be postponed until after the election, Shadow Treasury chief secretary Philip Hammond said that it was clear Labour wanted to hide the spending cuts it was planning.

The Business Secretary also signalled that the deeply unpopular plans to sell off a stake in the Royal Mail may be delayed.