New Labour and the Management of Public Services: Legacies, Impact and Prospects

One of the legacies of 18 years of reforming Conservative governments from 1979 to 1997 was a well-entrenched system of ‘new public management’ (NPM) in the public services. First, the Thatcher and Major governments wanted to transfer services from the public to the private sector in the belief that the private sector was more efficient and responsive to consumer needs than was the public sector. Other objectives were to reduce public expenditure and create a property-owning democracy, in which the public would become wedded to the virtues of private ownership and an enterprise culture. Second, the Conservatives intended to destroy the power base of the public sector professions and trade unions, by breaking up public monopolies, promoting competition and choice and restricting traditional trade union freedoms. Third, they aimed to managerialise the public services and create performance management and quality management cultures, aimed at achieving greater efficiency and effectiveness in the provision of public services.