Labour Policy Watch has been compiled by Rob Wall, a member and past constituency secretary of Bedford & Kempston Constituency Labour Party. I see it as necessary because there are such widely different views about what New Labour did to the Labour Party's political position, but nobody seems to have collected the data which could settle the matter. The need has become urgent because the Labour Party has just lost power after 13 years, will soon elect a new leader and has a rare chance to rethink its policy directions.

Labour Policy Watch allows us to position New Labour in comparison with "Old Labour" and the Tories across a wide range of issues. It does not consider the position of the new Con-Lib coalition, but it is already clear that they are talking some "Old Labour" talk, e.g. on civil liberties or the decentralisation of government. If Labour opposes from a New Labour position, it risks being seen as hidebound and reactionary on these policies and as hypocritical on other issues, e.g. part-privatisation of Royal Mail or the further market break-up of our comprehensive school system, since these were what new Labour wanted anyway. This is the context in which Labour has to look afresh at its policies and principles, and in which members have to choose a leader and then stay involved with the policy process.

 Because it is so difficult for any one person to know everything across this range, it is hoped that readers will be able to answer queries left in the text or correct errors: to do so see Contact.