Labour is abandoning the Blairite mechanism of dictating the delivery of public services through setting and monitoring targets, and instead is introducing a new range of legal rights and entitlements.
Less than a month after the Prime Minister's tenure in Downing Street was looking very shaky, with a series of ministerial resignations and a dismal showing in the Council and European Elections, he launched the document Building Britain's Future.
This major policy initiative signals the start of Gordon Brown's campaign to reassert his authority over his fractious party in preparation for the forthcoming general election campaign.
However, the froth of hype and spin that accompanied the policy launch failed to disguise the enormity of the financial crisis facing the country. Indeed, it prompted speculation that the rhetoric about shifting power from Whitehall to the people was a way of devolving blame for the inevitable cuts in public services to local authorities and health trusts, and away from central Government.
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