Max Bradford can't duck responsibility for the state of the public service by dumping on public servants, says Labour social welfare and employment spokesperson Steve Maharey.

"Public servants like those at Defence and Winz have been splashing out like private sector executives because that's what this government wanted. It told them to follow the private sector model so that's what they've done."

Mr Maharey was reacting to Mr Bradford's comments, reported in today's Evening Post, that the government faced "something deep inside the psyche of many public servants, that really suggests they are not looking for value for money."

"The extravagance at Winz and Defence is unacceptable, but public servants are behaving this way because they understood they were supposed to. Dumping on them like Mr Bradford has done is like telling your children to run wild then turning on them when the neighbours complain."

Mr Maharey said Labour would reassert the role of government as the owner of the public service rather than just a purchaser of services.

"A Labour government would take charge and say we don't want the public service to look and behave like this. We'll tell them to stop. It's really that simple."

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>