Blair vows there will be no going back to Old Labour thinking

Tony Blair has warned that there can be "absolutely no going back" to Old Labour thinking without risking a return to opposition.

The Prime Minister pledged to press ahead with reforms of public services.

In an interview with the Financial Times, he said Labour had learned lessons during its 18 years in opposition and if "we forget those lessons for one moment, and think that we can slip back into the old ways, we will go back into the old state – which was opposition".

Mr Blair acknowledged that the Government was facing its "most testing time" since the 1997 election. But he said he was prepared to take on the unions and those who wanted to see a return to Old Labour dogma.

He said reform of health and education was "completely fundamental to everything that today's Labour Party is about", adding that the Government's "mission" was to reform the 1940s settlement over public services.

The Prime Minister said that an accusation by Bill Morris, the Transport and General Workers' Union leader, that there was no difference between Labour and the Conservatives was absurd.

"There is absolutely no going back to turning things down on the basis of doctrine or dogma that does not correspond with modern reality," he said. "Yes there will be people who disagree with it within the Labour Party. But it is our job to take the argument out and win it."

Mr Blair did not rule out the possibility of a referendum during this Parliament on adopting the euro, if the five economic tests were passed.