Public Services: Tony Blairs nine wasted years - Cable

6.07.29pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 6th Jun 2006

Commenting on the Prime Minister's speech on voter support for investment in public services, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader, Vince Cable MP said "The Prime Minister's veiled attack on the public service is a smokescreen for his government's increasingly poor planning and administration.

"While the NHS, the Home Office and the Department of Work and Pensions are all struggling to cope, the government is piling on ever more complex and ineffective projects like ID cards and complex IT systems.

"Tony Blair's speech is an admission of nine wasted years and a failure to learn from past mistakes.

"The Liberal Democrats want an end to the culture of targets and to Labour's insistence on permanent public sector revolution ."