Lifelong learning has been a key theme of New Labour's education policy agenda since 1997, but is a broad and often amorphous concept. This article analyzes New Labour's ideological perspective in this context, outlines the main developments and difficulties, and evaluates the record over the seven years in office. New Labour's policy on lifelong learning can be divorced neither from its general education policy nor from its broader human capital approach to education, within an ideology of "marketised welfarism". The article discusses these characteristics and notes both the continuities and differences between New Labour and traditional Labourism.