Labour is failing says ex Home Secretary

Former Home Secretary Charles Clarke MP has given five areas in which the Labour Party in government has failed:

• The government's approach to Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East has alienated many;

• Lack of confidence among environmental campaigners in the party's commitment to green issues;

• Failure to reach a deal with local councils on the division of local and central responsibilities, putting "a distance" between ministers and councillors and others;

• Concerns among the business world, much of which swung behind Labour in 1997, about regulation, tax, value for money in public services and failure to adopt the euro

• Doubts about the party's determination to complete constitutional reforms, such as changes to the House of Lords, and fears for civil liberties amid anti-terrorism legislation

Writing in the New Statesman magazine in the run up to the Labour Party conference he condemned the way in which policy has been made saying "Major policy issues, such as the place of nuclear energy in the drive to energy sustainability and the value to our overall security strategy of replacing Trident, need serious consideration. They cannot simply be dealt with as an aside at the CBI's annual dinner or a half-sentence at the Guildhall,"