The Archbishop of Canterbury has attacked Britain under Labour, claiming that society has become "fantastically materialistic" and "deeply unforgiving".People have become suspicious and mistrustful of the Government, disillusioned with New Labour's failure to fulfil its promises to improve the education and health services, and feel isolated from the political process, he argues.
Rowan Williams says that far from seeing Britain transformed since Tony Blair came to power, cynicism and greed are now the pervading sentiments of the country's culture.
"We don't feel that the great institutions of our society are working for us," he says in a book published this week.
"We are unhappy and mistrustful about our educational system, our health care services and police - let alone our representatives in government."
He warns that the public increasingly feel that the political system does not work for them: "We sense ourselves caught up in international economic and political patterns we can't control and which we don't believe work for our advantage."
His comments - in a passionate defence of the importance of Christian beliefs - will come as a fresh blow to the moral authority of the Prime Minister, who came to power promising to introduce a new style of politics.
Mr Blair, who is a member of the Christian Socialist Movement along with the archbishop, welcomed his appointment in 2002, but the leader of the Church of England has become increasingly critical of the Government over the past year.
He has attacked its decision to go to war in Iraq as "morally flawed" and "short-sighted", accused it of undermining marriage and condemned its prison policy as "lethally dangerous".
In the book, Tokens of Trust, the archbishop defends his interventions, arguing that he has a God-given duty to be involved in all areas of public life.
"We shouldn't be surprised if Christians are interested in things like politics and have awkward questions to ask and contributions they want to make. There are no areas that are off-limits [for Christians] if God is truly the Creator of this world."
The archbishop expresses concern about society. "We seem to be tolerant of all sorts of behaviour, yet are deeply unforgiving," he says. "People demand legal redress for human errors and oversights."
He continues: "We shouldn't be misled by an easy-going atmosphere in manners and morals; under the surface there is a harshness that ought to worry us."
Modern society is described as an "obsessional and addictive age", in which "We are tempted to think that if it's nothing to do with me it isn't significant".
The erosion of a Christian belief system has left society to become "fantastically materialistic" and consequently unable to value life, he suggests.
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