Does New Labour have a Consistent Conception of Social Justice?

Abstract

This article analyses the consistency of New Labour's conception of social justice both discursively and in its application to policy. It begins by illustrating the ways that New Labour has constructed an image of itself as having a consistent conception of social justice. From here, the consistency criteria with which to evaluate New Labour's programme is outlined. Finally, the article applies the consistency framework to New Labour's programme revealing that in addition to being inconsistent discursively, the practical application of the conception of social justice is contradictory to such discourse, thus rendering New Labour's conception of social justice inconsistent.