The Left must find an answer to this difficult question: why should those who work hard, especially those on low incomes, support those who do not.
“We’re more Thatcherite than ever,” yesterday’s newspapers have proclaimed, either with triumph (in the case of the right-wing press) or alarm (in the case of the left). However, although the Daily Mail may insist that “public opinion has swung dramatically to the right”, the statistics simply don’t add up.
You may expect public opinion to move against a government over time. One party is elected, it takes the country in a certain direction, and the small-c conservatism of the public as a whole pulls in the other direction, eventually deciding that the administration has gone too far.
This appears to be the pattern in the United States, for example. While Americans tend to believe government does too much, this gap has widened when a Democrat is in the White House and narrowed when the incumbent is a Republican.
Three measures recorded in the British Social Attitudes survey, on which yesterday’s reports are based, follow this classic pattern to some degree, from 1987 to 2005. That is, in the period 1987-1997 under the Thatcher-Major governments, those saying the income gap is too large, agree that working people do not get a fair share of the nation’s wealth, and think that government should redistribute wealth, grow in numbers.
After 1997, with the Conservatives in opposition and Labour in power, the dynamic goes into reverse, with a drift to the right. However, after 2005, something strange happens. Despite Labour clocking up a decade in office, attitudes move to the left.
These social attitudes at least have been moving in a progressive direction for five years. Furthermore, they are set to accelerate that trend under a Conservative-led government. In fact, we may see a Blairite effect in reverse.
While newspaper reports have asserted that the public’s supposed shift to the right is due to New Labour’s triangulation, the Cameroonian Conservative insistence that inequality matters, may cut away at their own ideological support.
Where progressives do face a difficulty is on public support for increased spending on benefits. This has been on a downward trajectory for a quarter of century. While it was as high as 58 per cent in 1991, it had fallen to 50 per cent five years later and had hit 27 per cent in 2009.
If the Left is to regain ideological ascendenscy, it has to find an answer to this difficult question: why should those who work hard, especially those on low incomes, support those who do not. Valuable work has already begun on the issue, much more is needed.
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37 Responses to “Statistics don’t show public’s attitudes have shifted to the right”
13eastie
“…the statistics simply don’t add up…”
It is LFF that can’t add up.
Here’s a statistic: Labour lost 91 seats in the election. If that is not a swing to the right, what is it?
And is it just conceivable that people always tend to respond more positively to those questions whenever they are feeling the economic pinch from asset bubble expansion or collapse, regardless of who is in power?
Or that many “working people” now resent not just the perceived unfair distribution of earnings to those higher up the income scale, but the sequestration of all workers’ earnings by Labour’s generation of millions of workless sponges?
Labour does not have a monopoly on fairness, and until it realises this, it will continue to fail.
People HAVE moved to the right and away from Labour because they want something that is MORE fair.
Chris
@13eastie
Ermmmm, Cameron improved on Howard by 3%. Not exactly a massive swing to the right or a ringing endorsement of the tory party.
Stephen McKay
Perhaps we're not moving to the Right, after all (social attitudes):
https://www.leftfootforward.org/2010/12/british-social-attitudes-survey/
Anon E Mouse
Chris – The way you go on anyone would think Labour won the election.
If they keep Little Ed Miliband, the cheating union stooge, tax avoiding, property millionaire as leader they will crash next time.
Miliband is a dithering helpless dud and 91 seats lost last time? That’ll be nothing when the coalition gets it changes in on the number of seats.
Less MP’s? Yes please..z
Chris
@mouse
The way you go on anyone would think you’re a paid tory party troll…oh you are.
“If they keep Little Ed Miliband, the cheating union stooge, tax avoiding, property millionaire as leader they will crash next time.”
Can’t you lever in a few more moronic smears and lies into this sentence? He’s Jewish, there is surely some mileage for you in that…
“Miliband is a dithering helpless dud and 91 seats lost last time? That’ll be nothing when the coalition gets it changes in on the number of seats.”
Yawn, you’re really growing into a tiresome troll. No new material just the same old rants copy & pasted into the comment box.
And why are you posting in company time? Slacker!!!