Ever Since Tony Blair Told The Nation In May 1997 that his election victory had brought a "new dawn", his administration's ambition for the public sector has been obvious. Programmes for the refurbishment of every secondary school in the country and the delivery of 100 hospitals by 2010 were testament to this. But it increasingly looks like blind ambition. Civil servants have disappointing news for their political masters about the number of hospitals valued at ￡150m and upwards that can be delivered ahead of the next election. Meanwhile the Department for Education and Skills is preparing to flood the market with so much work that it is bound to overheat a construction economy that is already inflating at four times the rate of the Retail Prices Index. Huge construction projects at Heathrow Terminal 5 and Crossrail, as well as Prescott's massive housebuilding programme, will put even greater pressure on the limited resources of UK construction. In short, it seems almost certain that contractors will not be able to deliver the government's current plans, particularly in the vital areas of health and education.
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