'Tony Blair should be free to make his own decisions'

Gordon Brown will seek to devolve power away from central government if he becomes prime minister, he told the Jon Sopel in an interview for the Politics Show.

Mr Brown, as Chancellor, made the Bank of England responsible for interest rates, and believes this could be a model for devolving power from ministers.

"The model of Bank of England independence offers us a way forward, because you give up power and you show that you are not anxious to hold on to powers that should be better administered or better dealt with by other people," he said.

"At the same time, you make this distinction which governments, perhaps politicians, have been reluctant to do, between setting a general policy guideline and letting people who are better able to manage just get on with it."

Health Service

However, Mr Brown made clear that the role of the private sector in the NHS should be limited to around 15%.

This appeared to put him at odds with Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, who said this week that the government should not set "arbitrary targets or limits on one provider or another".

'Great leader'

Speaking about Mr Blair, Mr Brown said there was "undoubtedly uncertainty" about his position.

"Look, you�ve been dealing with a unique situation - a prime minister that says that he's not going to stand at the next general election as a leader of his party.

"But my position has always been that Tony Blair should be free to make his own decisions and I think that�s where the position is at the moment." He paid tribute to Mr Blair as "a great prime minister" and "a great leader of the Labour Party".

Also speaking on the Politics Show...Tony Woodley, General Secretary of the TGWU Union, said he did not want to see any further privatisation in the health service.

Join Jon Sopel and guests for the Politics Show on Sunday 24 September 2006 at 12:00 BST on BBC One.

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