The Third Way in Welfare and Penal Policy

An analysis of the Blairite mantra “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime” is at the heart of this work. This chapter will consider the development of welfare and penal policy during the Blair and Brown administrations. This is a mixed picture as investment in public services was accompanied by significant increases in the uses of imprisonment. This was partly because of the political fear of being seen as weak on crime – though the Blairite ascendancy meant that there was actually huge scope for manoeuvre – but also it reflected the fundamental communitarianism at the heart of New Labour. These underpinning attitudes created a punitive approach that ran through welfare and penal policy. This chapter will examine the paradox of the Centaur state which leads to great regulation for those at the margins of society