New Labour's attack on public services : modernisation by marketisation? How the commissioning, choice, competition and contestability agenda threatens public services and the welfare state

New Labour is creating markets in public services on an unprecedented scale.

Education, health and social care, children's services, housing, planning and regeneration, the criminal justice system and the welfare state are all being marketised.

It has gone well beyond even Tory expectations of the 1990s.Privatisation inevitably follows marketisation, eroding democratic accountability and embedding business interests.

The impact will be far reaching. Any benefits in terms of economic, social and sustainable development that are gained through regional strategies and city regions could evaporate if market forces are allowed to run rampant across the public sector.As this timely book makes clear, action by alliances of trade unions, community organisations and civil society organisations is urgently required.