The New Deal had as its signature, the power to withdraw benefits from those who 'refused reasonable employment'. 'Workfare' in the UK can arguably be traced back to 1986, and compulsory 'Restart' interviews for claimants after a certain period, and as such the first introduction of 'conditionalities' with the possible outcome of 'sanctions' for perceived non-compliance. The 'New Deal' replaced the previous workfare programme of the then-Conservative government of John Major, 'Project Work', which had been launched in the early 90s.