The Context of Public Service Reform under New Labour: Marketising the Welfare State

Abstract

To compare and evaluate the narratives of public service constructed by New Labour policy actors it is necessary to undertake a process of fragmentation, using content analytic methods to examine speeches and policy documents, bringing out differences across institutions, between service areas and over time. The quantitative methods used in subsequent chapters allow this textual deconstruction. However, to make sense of the component parts, it is first necessary to understand the broad outlines of public service provision under New Labour. It is also vital to place consumerism within the broader trends reshaping public service reform during New Labour’s time in office.