Blair: I need time to save public services

Tony Blair was accused of promising "jam tomorrow" on public services after he admitted that it would take 15 years to bring Britain's school buildings up to the highest standard.

The Prime Minister also conceded that the Government had failed to get its message across to voters on Labour's achievements. In a speech on education, Mr Blair maintained he had "never said that we could transform the public services in a few years", adding: "It takes time to reverse decades of neglect and under-investment."

Earlier, he told a party political session of the full Cabinet that although individuals had a "consistently improving personal experience" of key services, that had not translated into a more widespread public perception that services were getting better. Mr Blair's speech and the cabinet session were designed to shift the political agenda firmly back into the domestic arena after weeks of controversy over the war in Iraq and the Hutton report.

But Tim Yeo, the Tories' health and education spokesman, pointed out that Mr Blair had been in Downing Street for seven years and could not "shift the goalposts" of expectation to cover up his lack of delivery.

Matthew Taylor, the parliamentary chairman of the Liberal Democrats, said that his party would not let the Government "off the hook" on Iraq but was happy to fight on Labour's failures at home.

Mr Blair and Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, told cabinet colleagues that they must do more to persuade both voters and their own backbench MPs that Labour policies were improving health, education and the fight against crime.

During a two-hour meeting at Downing Street, Mr Blair and Mr Brown made a joint presentation on the Government's strategy for the next few months. The presentation focused on the need for "more consistent communication" of what Labour has done and is doing to improve people's everyday lives through improved public services and living standards. There was also debate about the need to grasp the political challenges posed by immigration.

A Labour spokesman said ministers had discussed the problem that when public services work well, voters "think that their experience has been the exception, rather than the norm". He added: "We need to communicate the fact that that positive personal experience really does reflect the reality."

He acknowledged that in the aftermath of the Government's difficulties over university top-up fees, there was a need to improve communication between the Government and its backbenchers, as well as with the public. The Cabinet agreed on the need to expose what the spokesman called the Tories' "extreme right-wing agenda" and show how they pose a threat to economic stability and health and education through an agenda of "cuts, charges and privatisation".

Mr Blair attempted to underline his message of more investment with a speech promising that £5.1bn will be available by 2005-06 for school repairs and renewals. The funds represented a "once in a lifetime opportunity" to radically improve facilities over the next 10 to 15 years, he said. "It is a process of change and renewal which we seek to extend nationwide in the years ahead."

But the Tories pointed out that Mr Blair said in his 2001 election manifesto that the Government had a "10-year plan" for public services that ran to 2011. On the new pledge, things would not get better until 2019.

Mr Yeo said: "This is a prime minister who inherited the best economy in 50 years and the biggest majority in 50 years and he now says after seven years that he is only just starting the job. How much longer do the British public have to wait?"

Mr Taylor said that Mr Blair was turning into a "jam tomorrow" prime minister.