Left-wing MPs and union leaders have called on the Labour Party to return to its "core values" in a stinging attack on the government.

Staging what some regarded as an "alternative" party conference in London on Saturday, speakers criticised the government's use of the private sector in running public services.

The meeting at the TUC, entitled After New Labour, comes days after industrial action by council workers and London Underground staff.

I came not to praise New Labour but to bury it

John Edmonds GMB union

But a minister has denied the government is heading for a "summer of discontent", saying strikes are at an all-time low and investment in public services increasing.

Earlier in the week, one of Tony Blair's allies Sir Ken Jackson, was ousted from the top job at Britain's second biggest union, Amicus.

The organisers of Saturday's event, the Socialist Group of Labour MPs, believe the tide is turning in favour of the party's left-wing.

A spokesman said: "There is an overriding need to re-establish Labour's broad church.

"New Labour mistakes of privatisation, PPP, disposable labour markets, extending means-testing and aggressive militarism are undermining Labour's credibility.

Benn: New Labour is 'wrong'

"The party must return to its traditional commitments of full employment, universal welfare, peace and democratic accountability."

Veteran backbencher Tony Benn said the conference was not a battle between left and right but a difference "between right and wrong".

He said it was an attempt to address people in Britain who are concerned about housing, work, education and pensions.

Others on the platform included left-wing trade union leaders such as Unison's general secretary David Prentis and the leader of the RMT union Bob Crow.

Reduced unemployment

GMB general secretary John Edmonds said "I came not to praise New Labour but to bury it. Some people have said that New Labour is already dead but the problem is that nobody has told the corpse yet."

Minister for Employment Relations, Alan Johnson, said they were entitled to their freedom of expression and denied the government was running into troubled times with workers.

But Mr Johnson, himself a former general secretary of the Union of Communications Workers, told BBC News there was a "culture of betrayal" among the unions.

Livingstone vowed to fight PPP

He said the government had invested record levels in public services, reduced unemployment and made progress in addressing social exclusion.

He added: "The records show that industrial action is at its lowest level ever."

Stephen Pound, Labour MP for Ealing North, also defended the government's record.

He said: "New Labour is what is delivering for this country and it is a lot more positive and a lot more productive than these sort of meetings."

We're coming again to save the Labour Party

John McDonnell MP

But Mr Crow, who earlier said he did not know what New Labour meant, told the conference 88% of the public supported Tube drivers striking against the PPP proposals.

He said PPP would "turn the screws" on workers' pay and conditions and lead to corners being cut.

'No PPP'

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

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

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

Others who made speeches at the conference included London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who vowed to do all he could to prevent the scheme going ahead because of his concerns about health and safety.