Tony Blair's bridge building "redistribution" speech aimed at winning over dissenting Labour activists may have failed.

The Labour leader is facing an embarrassing defeat his party's Blackpool conference over plans to involve the private sector in providing public services.

Party activists and unions look set to defy the prime minister and back calls for a moratorium on the private provision of public services.

Forum Response: GMB

John Edmonds, general secretary of the GMB, told ePolitix.com: "This joint motion reflects the dissatisfaction of the members of public services unions and the majority of the British people with the private sector delivering public services while making a profit."

Forum Response: Institute of Directors

Ruth Lea, head of the policy unit at the IoD, told ePolitix.com: "While we recognise PFI is not perfect it needs to be pointed out that the concept has resulted in large amounts of investment in the public sector. Investment that otherwise would not have taken place. The government should resist calls for PFI to be scraped. To stop it now would certainly be a mistake."

Forum Response: Unison

Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, told ePolitix.com: "The government is relentlessly pursuing a policy that wastes money, wastes time and fails any objective test of value for money.

"It's a policy that is squandering the only chance in a generation of renewing our public services. Nor is PFI producing the quality, the design or the innovation that the public expects and deserves from 21st century public services.

"It cannot be right that during a period of unprecedented public investment huge profits are going into private pockets when these funds should be directed at essential public services.

"This is why the trade unions want a moratorium on PFI while a detailed independent inquiry takes place."