Inside the laboratory
The new politics of public services in Wales

By Steve Davies

Published: August 2003

Labour won an increased majority in the Welsh Assembly in elections this year, reversing earlier nationalist incursions and freeing it to govern without the Liberal Democrats.

As in Westminster, public services have been defined as the "issue of issues" in Wales. But under the leadership of Rhodri Morgan the policies and language of Welsh Labour reveal interesting divergences from Downing Street's agenda for pubic sector reform. In this lively and informative analysis Steve Davies asks if devolution has created a "laboratory of opposition" to the market orthodoxies of New Labour.

Steve Davies is a senior research fellow at Cardiff University's School of Social Sciences.

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