The Prime Minister writes exclusively for the Lancashire Evening Telegraph on the day of his visit to East Lancashire

I AM delighted to be in Blackburn today and to have this chance, through the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, to speak to you.

I'm here to show this New Labour Government is delivering on its promise to make education our number one priority, as we will deliver on all our promises.

It is a promise we are backing with £19 billion in extra investment over the next three years. It's money to modernise our schools, to provide new equipment and books, to boost standards.

It is also a promise we are backing with new policies. Reforms, for instance, to improve the reading, writing and arithmetic skills of all our children, to reward good teachers and improve leadership in our schools.

And my visit to Lancashire today is to give fresh impetus to a radical new initiative in which Blackburn's schools have led the way for the whole country.

I am here to launch the second round of the Education Action Zones - a new approach, backed by extra Government funding, to raising standards for all our children.

Their aim is to find new ways of tackling long-standing educational problems and improve levels of achievement in our schools, by encouraging local communities to come up with their own solutions.

Blackburn is the right town for the launch because you have already shown how well EAZs can work. The Blackburn with Darwen education authority was one of the first 12 areas to pilot this ground-breaking programme. I want many other areas to learn from your success, to follow your example. For though the EAZ has only been operating here since September, it is already delivering real results and helped build a new partnership between schools and the wider community.

It has demonstrated how business, education and new technology can combine in exciting ways to improve chances for children. Government funding for the EAZ has been boosted by support from local companies, big and small - companies like British Aerospace and Promethean - providing support and manpower to set up and use new technology such as the blackboard-sized interactive computer screens I saw in action today. It provides an exciting new way of teaching which can help keep pupils focused on learning.

Many other firms and organisations are involved with schools, parents and education authority to make a success of the EAZ - including Blackburn Rovers.

It has helped create a real sense of partnership and teamwork - exactly the kind of teamwork which, to the delight of Jack Straw, is behind Rovers' climb up the Premiership.

We also chose to come to Blackburn to attract bids for the next EAZs, because Our Lady and St John High School represents the whole spirit behind this new idea.

It's a school recognised by Ofsted and the community as very good already, but still committed to improving the education of all its children.

It has shown how a new flexibility in the curriculum can provide learning which meets the needs of every pupil.

It's still early days. But you should be proud of the way the community is pulling together to improve education here. I am confident the zone will continue to deliver real benefits. And that is also what I am determined the New Labour Government will deliver for you. It has been a difficult few weeks for the Government. I won't pretend otherwise.

But throughout it all, we have kept concentrating on what really matters to you - better schools, better hospitals, lower crime, on helping the young and long-term unemployed back into work, on building a strong and stable economy.

I always made clear we could not repair the damage of the Tory years overnight. I am proud of what we have achieved in our first 20 months. More than 100,000 infants are in smaller classes, including 800 in Blackburn and nearly 9,000 in Lancashire. The New Deal has helped youth unemployment reach the lowest level for 30 years. Hospital waiting lists are falling. So are interest rates.

But I know there is a great deal more to do. And I believe 1999 is the year when the tough choices we have already made will really make a difference on the ground.

It is the year in which health and education will enjoy the first stage of the extra £40 billion investment over the next three years.

It means, for instance, £21 million more for East Lancashire Health Authority - an increase of nearly four per cent above inflation. Money to modernise hospitals, to recruit new nurses.

A year in which millions of low-paid workers will see a wage rise thanks to the minimum wage, which will see the abolition of eye test charges for pensioners and the biggest-ever increase in child benefit.

It's a big programme of renewal and reform to make Britain a modern, fairer society. It's the programme you voted for at the election. And it is the programme I am determined we will deliver.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.