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    A year or so ago Conservatives made a policy announcement to introduce a system based on the Workfare system in America. It was widely debated at the time with Labour and the left pouring scorn in it. I had a 'conversation' on this forum about it when I was asked to explain it (by DT I think).

    I suspect that Labour's focus groups reacted well to the Conservative proposals and as a result they decided they had to try to neutralise this issue. We have seen this kind of approach before, inheritance tax etc etc, in fact over a dozen proposals in Brown's draft Queens speech were based on Conservative policies/ideas.

    Remember Labour have had 11 years to do this but only now, after Conservative proposals have been announced, have they adopted it. Indeed, Keith is right about Frank Field, he came up with proposals and was sidelined because Labour could not stomach it at the time. That alone proves my point that this is a matter of political convenience to them not conviction.

    We have already seen the response of the left, Polly Toynbee in the Guardian today is evidence of that in one of her usual half baked articles. The Government may well have difficulty in getting these proposals through against opposition from its own left wingers.

    It would be churlish indeed for the Conservatives to oppose these proposals as they mirror closely what is a Conservative policy. They are therefore right to support the Government over this and this support may well be needed against the left.

    The problem, however, I suspect will be in the detail and implementation. I suspect we will get the usual bodge job and it will need to be significantly amended and toughened up when the Conservatives get into power. I am sure Brown will decide to water it down to mollify his left wing so he does not have to count on Conservative support to get it through. It is this that makes Frank Field so cynical over whether it will 'see the light of day'. Again there is precedence for this.

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