THE GOAL that the Government sets today of bringing Britain's so-called underclass back into mainstream society is that of an immense social revolution.

And even though it is one that may be expected of a Labour administration - even one whose socialist credentials have visibly shifted towards the centre ground - it is nevertheless a departure that has been long overdue.

For while the blame for the emergence of an underclass in our society - street beggars, cardboard cities of the homeless, sink housing estates, failing schools, widespread crime, and disaffected youth - cannot be wholly blamed on 18 years of Conservative rule, perhaps the general disregard of it can.

The Thatcher era and over-optimistic reliance on the so-called "trickle-down" effect whereby rising prosperity flowed down the economic ladder, established a "me" society instead of an "us." Consequently, whole swathes of people have been excluded from the general prosperity of the mainstream.

Tony Blair clearly set the agenda for tackling this mighty problem when, soon after the election, he pledged there would be no forgotten people in the Britain he wanted to build.

Now, he has moved on by setting up a high-powered Whitehall unit to engineer his "one nation" drive.

Yet, how can this goal be achieved?

Through increased welfarism? Hardly, as this Government is as dedicated to cutting the nation's exploding social security bill and benefit dependency as the last one was.

Clearly, New Labour's emphasis on education must form the mainspring of its effort to give the forgotten sectors of society new opportunities. But this will obviously take years, if not decades, to produce results.

The Welfare to Work programme aimed at producing employment opportunities for the long-term young unemployed must be a key factor - but how is it be be prolonged if its resources are the finite ones of the one-off windfall tax on the utilities?

The bid to curb the malaise and crime caused by drugs must be another key component in the plan, but, again, the results can evidently only be delivered over the long term.

The prime challenge of this new unit, surely, will be to deliver the fast results that ministers believe can be achieved.

It is a daunting task. But it is the fact that the Government has set itself this goal that is encouraging. Before, the attitude that prevailed was one of ignoring or containing the problem rather than believing it could be cured.

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