Search for substance

Two leaders, two styles and a search for substance. The draft legislative programme set out by the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, was aimed at calming fears engendered by the economic downturn and boosting accountability of public services. Measures to give the people who use the health, education and police services in England more control over how they are delivered is intended to provide greater transparency. That runs the risk of being met with scepticism after weary weeks in which measures to help poor families have been undone because the effects of abolishing the 10p tax rate were not initially made clear.