New Labour has failed and the Left is on the rise.

That's the thinking behind a conference on Saturday involving some of Labour's most forthright left-wing MPs.

This week saw the first national strike by council workers since the 1979 Winter of Discontent. So, are the organisers of this Socialist Conference sensing a real sea change in Britain?

On Breakfast this morning, former Labour advisor Pat McFadden dismissed those claims.

"We should not get too excited about this, " he said. "I remember a conference organised by Tony Benn in 1987 which made the same claims.

"The difference is that now we are in power."

Like many other Labour loyalists, McFadden is pinning his hopes on Gordon Brown's decision to pump money into public services.

"What we're seeing is Labour delivering on its election promises - and people want to see real improvements in services," he told Breakfast.

Details

The conference entitled 'After New Labour' at the TUC in London comes in a week that saw industrial action by council workers and the London Underground stopping for 24 hours.

The Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs will be joined on the platform by left wing trade union leaders, including Unison's general secretary David Prentis and the leader of the RMT union Bob Crow.

Strikes loom

Mr Prentis is expected to rally support for council workers who have voted to go out again on strike over pay again on 14 August.

Unions will rally support for council workers

Up to a million council workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland held their first strike since 1979 on Wednesday.

BBC political correspondent Nicholas Jones said that the pressure that had been building up for months over the privatisation of public services has given a new edge to the campaign for more money for lower paid workers.

The conference also coincides with a strike by workers at Manchester Airport.

Members of the Transport and General Workers' Union plan to stage a two-hour strike on Saturday in a long-running row over jobs.

Mick Rix, general secretary of the train driver's union, told BBC Radio 5 Live that many people felt discontented and disillusioned with a Labour Government that they had such high hopes for.

"People want the government to change course and taking a more caring and humanitarian course than it is at the moment," he said.

Aslef In London veteran former MP Tony Benn, London Mayor Ken Livingstone, MPs Diane Abbott and Dennis Skinner as well as the newly-elected leader of the UK's second largest union Amicus Derek Simpson will be among those attending Saturday's conference.

The election this week of Mr Simpson over staunch New Labour supporter Sir Ken Jackson was seen as the latest setback for the government in its increasingly strained relations with the unions.

And a showdown at the conference over the government's use of private money in the public sector has been widely predicted.