Voters want concrete plans, not big visions
A revealing new poll published today by the TUC shows how voters feel about Labour and the Conservatives in the wake of the election.
The poll, conducted straight after the election by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, provides a valuable insight into voting habits, and will be a useful resource for Labour as they choose their new leader.
For example, 13 per cent of voters said that they considered voting Labour before eventually choosing another party. 35 per cent switched to the Conservatives, 23 to Liberal Democrats, 17 to UKIP and 14 to the Greens.
Among this group, the biggest doubts influencing their ultimate lack of faith were spending and the threat of the SNP. Just 8 per cent of this group said their doubts included Labour being ‘hostile to aspiration’.
Just 27 per cent of voters said they thought Labour had a good record in government, and they scored 31 for competence compared to the Tories’ 57.
In contrast, although only 30 per cent said they thought the Conservatives were on the side of ordinary people, compared to 61 per cent for Labour, 54 per cent of people said they thought the Conservatives had a good track record in government.
Voters were concerned that Labour could not deliver on a number of issues including:
- Economic trust: Labour is 39 points behind on economic trust despite the fact that the poll suggests Labour’s potential growth arguments were more persuasive to voters
- ‘Concrete plans’: By 77 to 15 voters are looking for ‘concrete plans for sensible change’ rather than ‘a big vision for radical change’ from parties.
- Big business and wealth: By 42 to 22 voters thought Labour was too soft on big business, rather than too tough. This figure rose to 50 to 15 among those voters who considered Labour.
- Immigration and identity: By 62 to 20 voters want Labour to be tougher on immigration rather than more positive.
Labour has retained its traditional strongpoint, the NHS, with a 17-point lead over the Conservatives on healthcare.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said today:
“What comes through is that this poll offers no simple set of solutions for a new Labour leader – the attitudes revealed are a fascinating mix that shows voters are on the left on some issues and on the right on others.
“The challenges Labour now faces are very different from those in the past. Voters back a lot of the trade union agenda on living standards and an economic policy based on investment and growth, rather than the deep cuts we now face. But on welfare and immigration their views are very challenging.”
The poll shows that, moving forward, Labour needs to think about a leader who projects an image of competence and toughness. Despite the unpopularity of Conservative cuts, they have been carried out with a confidence which seems to appeal to voters.
Ruby Stockham is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward. Follow her on Twitter
13 Responses to “Poll shows that trust and competence are key for next Labour leader”
AlanGiles
Labour have a few things to be glad about – Ed Balls can’t do any more damage, after nine long days the pious loser Jim Murphy finally stood down, Blair’s son didn’t get a seat, and the self regarding Umunna withdrew from the leadership, as did Mandy’s other pet, Tristram Hunt – but there are many things to be ashamed about: arch hypocrites Keith Vaz and Margaret Hodge still have their seats, as does closet Tory Frank Field. Ageing Gerald Kaufman will still be able to “buy” his next £8000 TV set with our money.
We saw the return of Dawn Butler in Brent, the woman whose second home was less than thirty minutes from Westminster – as is her first home.
Labour will never be able to move on, until so many of these terrible expenses-fiddling ghastly old waxworks are consigned to history.
We do need trust and competence – sadly there are still far too many untrustworthy and incompetent old fiddlers still in the PLP. Apart from Andy Burnham, the next tranche of leaders are a throwback to the Blairite ways
Torybushhug
I have seen comments on this forum that claim Labour did not overspend and so did not leave us more vulnerable when the sun stopped shining. I wanted to make the point that manufacturing as a proportion of the economy halved under Labour, a far quicker demise than under the Tories. Many causes of this such as bloating the public sector which investors saw as rich and easy pickings.
To extend this point, people on the left in general are not too interested in enterprise. You get a sense of this by the questions from the Labour benches at PMQs. Most questions are around handouts and spending, not enterprise.
Labour cannot be trusted with enterprise. They made the employment landscape far too onerous and that’s another reason the private sector started using ZHCs and why employment rose so fast in the profligate public sector where employment tribunals and people throwing sickies was rife.
Selohesra
At least we wont have to put up with that awful hypocrite Hodge grandstanding on the PAC anymore
stevep
It demonstrates just how much the Tories control the brainwashing of the public and how little Labour has done to combat it. Labour needs to re-establish it`s own identity as the champion of the working people, which after all, is most of us. Forget the Tory narrative and put it`s own vision of Britain across by bypassing the mainstream media and using the internet to re-politicise and empower a whole new generation of activists and supporters who share our values. The mainstream media is dying and it doesn`t know it yet. We can act quickly and flexibly to get our shared views across to a generation which has embraced the world wide web as it`s main source of news, gossip and comment. The next generation will rely on it completely. We need to seize the moment.
Matthew Blott
Frank Field might be a social conservative but he’s long been a champion of the poor and has more integrity than Andy Burnham. Your crass remarks say more about you than him.