ABSTRACT
Under the first Blair Administration in the late 1990s, even with the advent of devolution which appeared to be a significant move in the direction of diffusing state power, it seemed that political responsibility for the key public services remained essentially with the party in Government at Westminster. Moreover, the second Blair Administration has gone out of its way to link its political fate with the successful delivery of improved public services and the British people still expect these services to be equally available to all at a comparable standard, regardless of where people live or the effect of particular initiatives at a more local level. Briefly stated, whatever the champions of devolution and the empowerment of local government may say, the centralisation of political responsibility for the key public services inevitably contributes to the further centralisation of political power. This has reinforced not only a long-term secular trend in British government, but also the natural inclinations of Tony Blair and his closest political colleagues who had adopted a centralising approach to create a new Labour Party and have since adopted a similar approach to create a New Britain.
