Following on the heels of the Smith Institute's recent report on Labour's local government policy comes this week's speech by Ed Miliband on public sector reform.

It seems that at last Labour's pointy heads are beginning to sow together policies, rather than tactics, ready for the starting block should they win in 2015.

They need to hit the ground running. It was ex-minister Nick Raynsford at the Smith Institute launch who pointed out that governments need to get their reformist policies launched in their first two years because events soon take over and they run out of steam.

One of New Labour's most dramatic policy changes, handing rate-setting to the Bank of England, was worked out in its first weekend in power in May 1997 but had been clearly planned in opposition.

Miliband's speech this week however was hardly a blueprint for public service delivery despite his reference to Labour's ‘radical reshaping of services'.

He is not the first party leader to call for more ‘people powered public services.' Neither Blair, Brown, Cameron or Clegg would disagree on this.