The Labour Party will today set up its own policy think-tank in an attempt to come up with the new ideas to allow it to keep the Tories out of power for a generation.

The group, called Forethought, is aimed at starting a new debate on policy inside Labour after criticism that Tony Blair has stifled debate because of his determination to avoid the damaging splits with the party that bedevilled previous Labour governments.

The policy research centre is the brainchild of David Triesman, Labour's general secretary, who believes the party runs the risk of losing power if it fails to produce fresh thinking to renew its appeal to ordinary people.

Forethought is not intended as a rival to the Downing Street Policy Unit or independent think-tanks, such as the Institute for Public Policy Research and the Fabian Society, which have influenced the Government's policy since 1997. The aim is to breathe new life into Labour's moribund policy-making process which has, in effect, been sidelined by the Prime Minister.

One Labour source said: " In June next year, Labour will have been in power continuously for the longest period in its history, so we are in new terrain. We need new thinking to ensure we win a third and fourth term and possibly even more."

Organisers say there is a need for a new burst of the "lateral thinking" Labour achieved in 1945 and during the modernisation of the party in the Nineties.

"We need to look to the long term, think outside the normal tramlines and be a bit more relaxed about having a proper debate, " one said.

The group will call on outside experts and academics. Its reports, which may be critical of the Government, will not be official party policy, which will continue to be formed by its National Policy Forum and the annual party conference.

Early projects will include mapping out the shape of Britain in the year 2020 and to investigate the implications for government and politics.

Another study will look into the decline in the turn-out at elections and a third at whether "ideas still matter in politics".

The members of the group's foundation panel include David Miliband, the Schools Standards minister and former head of the Downing Street Policy Unit and Lord Lipsey, the Labour peer who chairs the Social Market Foundation think-tank.

Others will be Professor Sir Alan Wilson, a member of the Board of Universities UK and chairman of its research policy group; Professor Bob Fryer, chief executive of NHSU, an organisation created to improve learning for all NHS staff and Seema Malhotra, a management consultant and a member of the Fabian Society's executive.