Britain's finance minister Gordon Brown said on Sunday the ruling Labour party would press on with controversial public-sector reforms despite strike threats from unions representing more than 1 million workers. Labour has planned thousands of job cuts and capped wage rises in an attempt to slash costs and improve delivery in the sprawling public sector.
But unions say services such as state health care are being crippled. "Reform will continue, it has to continue and in some cases it will intensify," Brown said in an interview with BBC television.
Union leaders had hoped a pending change of Labour leadership would move the party closer to its socialist roots, after Prime Minister Tony Blair wrestled power from the right-of-centre Conservative party in 1997 with more centre-ground policies.
Blair said this week he would step down as Prime Minister within a year and his party has dissolved into bickering over exactly when he should go and who should replace him.
Brown remains favourite to lead the campaign for the next election, expected in 2009, but he is unlikely to bow to pressure from Labour's union paymasters on job cuts, wage caps and what they call creeping privatisation in the private sector.
Labour is facing an increasing cash crisis and relies on union funding for four-fifths of its income.
STRIKE THREAT:
Britain's biggest civil service union, the Public and Commercial Services Union, said it was within weeks of repeating its 2004 national strike. "Unless government seriously sits down (with unions), we will embark on a consultation exercise with every PCS representative in the next six weeks to move forward towards a national strike ballot," Public and Commercial Services Union chief Mark Serwotka told reporters on the eve of the Trades Union Congress annual meeting in Brighton.
Britain's largest union and Labour's largest affiliate, Unison, said job reductions in the health service were endangering lives, arguing the issue could cost Labour a fourth term in office. "We believe that unless there is a change in policy Labour will not win," Unison General Secretary Dave Prentis said. "The National Health Service is under threat from the very party which created it. There is now a climate of fear permeating our hospitals."
Unison will announce the results of a strike ballot by workers in NHS logistics on Monday and more broader strikes could follow, according to union sources. But Brown earlier stood by his moves to streamline and modernise public services, especially in health care. "I introduced the PFI (private finance initiative) as Chancellor," Brown said. "It's worked very well in building more hospitals."