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Issues related to the policies of New Labour under Prime Minister Tony Blair are examined, focusing on how New Labour fails to address the problems of the socially excluded from a sufficiently wide perspective. Topics include welfare and educational reform.

The significance of the landslide victory of the Labor Party in the 1997 UK general elections and the nature of the 'New' Labor Party can only be evaluated in the light of their historical background. It is argued that although the Labor Party has had to change because of four consecutive election defeats and the evolving UK society, it remains committed to its historical reformist objectives despite a 'new image.'

The euphoria, jubilance and optimism surrounding the overwhelming victory of the New Labor Party's victory in the 1997 general elections after a brilliant strategic campaign has not masked the fact that the party has yet to create a coherent public philosophy that is recognizable in the mind of the general citizenry. While it is too early to judge, it is to be hoped that New Labor will embrace free enterprise within the framework of the EU, will loosen and devolve the processes of government and encourage active participation from the citizenry and clearly state its aims and values.

The Labor Party's victory in the UK's 1997 elections and the defeat of the world's most neo-liberal government does not represent the emergence of potent new forces at work in politics and society. Rather, it appears to mark the emergence of a party that can adjust to and possibly, succeed in a political environment not of its making. The installation of a UK Labor government has apparently restored a situation wherein both major contending parties in the UK are in consensus in promoting fundamentally neo-liberal tenets of market freedom.

The long-term significance of the UK Labor Party's so-called watershed victory in the 1997 general elections remains to be seen. While Prime Min Tony Blair has promised to implement major institutional reforms to change what he has termed 'the most centralized government of any large nation in the Western world,' it is to be hoped that he will not espouse proposals for a Bill of Rights empowered by judicial review, proportional representation and a fixed term for parliament.

The watershed victory of the UK Labor Party in the 1997 general elections after 18 years in opposition is considered unusual and a defining political moment for the UK. In a sense, the change of government, only the 6th in the UK in the 50 years since World War II, is the beginning of a new period and a new phase in UK policy making, national attitude and, possibly, economic fortunes and social behavior.

The unusual national euphoria and optimism that surrounded the victory of the New Labor Party's and Tony Blair's victory in the 1997 UK general elections is already dissipating. The New Labor ministers in charge are increasingly faced with a growing number of difficult issues that must be addressed. The new government's political future will depend largely on the manner in which the various elements of coalition that brought it to victory resolve their opposing views as well as the establishment of harmony between the New Labor's conservative economics and its radical politics.

The article examines the blurring of distinctions between the Labour Party and the Conservative Party with the proliferation of a globalized economy. Discussion focuses on the privatization of government functions.

This article addresses Scottish and Welsh overrepresentation in the United Kingdom's House of Commons. The authors argue the implementation of the Labour Party's constitutional agenda since 1997 has created a mess in that it has not attempted to solve the problem of overrepresentation, maintaining the Labour Party will be the main casualty of such a faulty and unfair political system if it is not soon reformed.

There are many, widely differing opinions regarding the significance of the UK Labor Party's victory in the May 1, 1997 general elections. The most prevailing view appears to be that the Labor Party has won so overwhelmingly in 1997 because it advanced hardly any radical changes and espoused the neo-liberal paradigm established during the Thatcher administration. Thus, conservative voters could reject the most unpopular administration since 1945 and embrace a safe alternative in the Blair government.