McDonnell, who has said that tackling tax avoidance would be a Labour priority, suggested that part of the problem was HMRC underfunding.
He said the Labour priority should be the completion of the single market, adding: "It is also clear that the priorities the EU political elites continue to focus on are taking us away from core areas, such as tackling terrorism and international crime, where the public does in fact support close pan-European co-operation.
Under Labour, despite the fact that social care seemed to be a New Labour priority and public expenditure was on the up, it took the government three terms to publish proposals for social care reform and for the introduction of a National Care Service – and even then, publication came just weeks before a general election.
Labour's priorities must start from people's lives – their struggles, hopes, fears and dreams – not an abstract utopia.
In the police, perhaps the least reformed public service under Labour, the priorities of local forces will be set by elected commissioners.
While the administration has not pushed hard for most of organised labour's priorities, its Labour Department has been far more active in international efforts than was that of George Bush.
Mr Brown deliberately deployed his "prudent and purposeful" largesse to wrongfoot Michael Howard by contrasting Labour's priorities with the Conservatives' rival commitment - to cut public spending and eventually taxes.
· Stephen Burke, chief executive of Counsel and Care, will speak at the Progress debate on First 100 Days: Labour's Priorities for Health and Social care on Tuesday, June 12, at Committee Room 11, House of Commons.
Setting out Labour's priorities, he returned several times to the problem of housing in the UK and the need for an extensive housebuilding programme, echoing many points in shadow housing minister John Healey's speech.
