The people, to be selected by market-research organisations as a cross-section representative of the population, will be asked to put themselves in the shoes of the Government’s decision makers and advise on three key areas of policy, including the cultural changes needed to help people improve their life chances.

The surprise move again underlines Tony Blair’s determination to set Labour’s new policy direction as part of his legacy, although Gordon Brown, who will almost certainly succeed him, is said to have signed up to the plan. The exercise will reach a conclusion in March, again suggesting that Mr Blair is not plannning an exit early in the new year.

The “public engagement” exercise carries echoes of the Labour Listens campaign conducted by the party more than a decade ago as it drew up its plans for government in 1997. Despite derision from political opponents and the media at the time, ministers insist that it played an important part in stating Labour’s agenda for its first two terms.

People will be recruited to take part in a series of regional working groups. In a series of meetings throughout February, they will be presented with the government papers on which ministers are already working in the network of policy reviews begun in October.

The participants, who will not be paid but may be able to claim expenses, will be presented with the same dilemmas that ministers face daily and asked to give their views before decisions are made.

The Government will structure the consultation so that ordinary people rather than organised lobby groups get the main say.

The groups will come together for a Dowing Street meeting in March. They will be advised by a number of junior ministers and senior civil servants at the event. The conclusions will then be presented to the Cabinet in mid-March and will form an integral part of the findings from the public services working group.

An aide to Mr Blair said: “Ten years ago the Labour Party listened to the public and offered them a new settlement in British politics: to combine economic efficiency and social justice as complementary partners, not competing opposites. In the past decade Britain has become fairer and more prosperous.

“This process of public engagement will help provide a crucial routemap to the future.”

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