The BMA has given a cautious welcome to the government's health service reform plans but has warned that any improvement programme will require many more frontline staff. It set out clear limits of the scope it believed was acceptable for private sector involvement in the NHS.

The development came as Bill Morris, the transport union chief, warned that Labour was presiding over a "cocktail" of confusion over its plans for Britain's public services. Morris said that union leaders were threatening to veto Charles Clarke's appointment as Labour's party chairman in protest at the plans.

Other unions are threatening to switch their funding from Labour to the Lib Dems in protest at the direction of Labour thinking on public services. Some unions are also said to be contemplating standing at local elections in a bid to damage Labour.