Cameron public services plan is 'classic nasty party stuff'

TUC condemns prime minister's proposal to open public services to private bidders as 'naked rightwing agenda'

The TUC has accused David Cameron of "classic nasty party stuff" after the prime minister proposed to make all public services open to private sector bidders.

Unions reacted furiously after he outlined his plans to "completely change" public services by bringing in a "presumption" that private companies, voluntary groups or charities are as able to run schools, hospitals and many other council services as the state.

Unison, the country's largest public sector union, warned that the proposals would result in a "postcode lottery" of services and a mountain of bureaucracy generated by a welter of private sector contracts.

The Public and Commercial Services Union, which represents civil servants, said the plans would signal the "biggest sell-off in living memory".

In a Daily Telegraph column, Cameron said he was seeking to end the "state's monopoly" of public services, with only the security forces and the judiciary exempt.

The proposals, to be published in a white paper in the next fortnight, will ensure that private sector bodies get an automatic right to bid for the bulk of public work.

Many elements of the NHS could soon be provided by private firms, schools could be run by charities and mutuals could take over the provision of council services.

Another basic principle will be that, where possible, the successful bidder should be local.

The TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, said the plan was a "naked rightwing agenda that takes us right back to the most divisive years of the 1980s".

"The prime minister has been telling us that the cuts are sadly necessary, not a secret political project to destroy public services," he said.

"Yet today's proposal to privatise everything that moves is exactly the kind of proposal that voters would reject if put at an election."

Barber said Cameron's suggestion that the plans would reduce bureaucracy was "particularly laughable".

"Privatisation replaces democratic oversight and accountability with a contract culture that is a job creation scheme for lawyers," he added.

"Voters and service users lose their say in what will be a get even richer quicker scheme for the companies that win contracts.

"Public service workers should be very afraid. The real profits will come from attacking their terms and conditions, and will only entrench the longest decline in living standards for ordinary people since the 1920s. This is classic nasty party stuff."

Downing Street said the reforms represented the most fundamental shakeup of public services since the early postwar era, with Cameron describing them as a "battering ram to break open monopolies". A system of independent adjudication would be established to ensure quality.

Cameron wrote: "We will create a new presumption – backed up by new rights for public service users and a new system of independent adjudication – that public services should be open to a range of providers competing to offer a better service.

"Of course, there are some areas, like national security services or the judiciary, where this wouldn't make sense.

"But everywhere else should be open to real diversity, open to everyone who gets and values the importance of our public service ethos.

"Instead of having to justify why it makes sense to introduce competition in individual public services – as we are now doing with schools and in the NHS – the state will have to justify why it should ever operate a monopoly."

The Unison leader, Dave Prentis, said the government wanted to "turn the clock back" to a time when private companies ran schools, hospitals and other council services.

"The state was forced to step in when the market failed to give people equal access to decent services," he said.

"Taking vital services out of the public sector will see a postcode lottery develop. Huge transaction costs and a tsunami of bureaucracy will waste billions. As private companies seek to eke out profits, they will strip our services to their bare bones.

"This is not about modernisation – it is about privatisation, creating an open market for the Tories' friends in big business to make billions out of our public services."

The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, has yet to comment on the proposals.The Labour government under Tony Blair opened up some public service provision to external bodies, including third sector organisations, but the move was resisted by unions.

As the health secretary, Andy Burnham sought to reverse the trend by saying in-house services would be the "preferred provider" of the NHS, unnerving many Labour modernisers.

Now the coalition government is seeking to go much further, with Cameron talking of ending the era of "old fashioned, top-down, take what you're given" public services.

The government hopes charities smarting from having their revenue streams cut by will see the plans as a chance to get involved in public service provision, opening up a greater market for them.

Explaining his motivation for the reforms, Cameron described the frustration he and his wife, Samantha, felt when caring for their disabled son, Ivan. "I never understood why local authorities had more control over the budget for his care than Samantha and me," he said.

He said the state would still have a role in ensuring "fair funding, ensuring fair competition, and ensuring that everyone, regardless of wealth, gets fair access".

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