In a Times interview, chancellor Gordon Brown has said that Labour must be prepared to be unpopular if its is to deliver reformed public services and increase enterprise.

Returning to the theme that a second Labour term would be more radical than the first, Brown emphasised the "ethic" of public service, words the Times argues, signal a willingness to take on doctors, lawyers and teachers, demanding change in return for investment.

The government is expected to act on an Office of Fair Trading report calling for competition and the end of demarcation in the professions and another report calling on the banks to help small firms. Labour will also act to take politicians out of merger decisions, relax planning laws to benefit business and to encourage entrepreneurship in deprived areas.