One Nation is absolutely the right framing for Ed Miliband. In a single phrase the Labour leader has set out a positive vision for Britain, projected a division with the Tories on their own turf and set out a challenge to the Labour Party.
Miliband set out his vision, aping Disraeli, as:
“A vision of Britain where patriotism, loyalty, dedication to the common cause courses through the veins of all and nobody feels left out, it was a vision of Britain coming together to overcome the challenges we face.”
This is clearer and more positive than anything he’s said before and builds on the optimism in Britain following the summer Olympics. It will help address head on poll findings that voters think he lacks a clear sense of the Britain he wants to create.
By borrowing language more closely associated with the Tories, Miliband sought to make himself the heir to a popular tradition of Conservative thought in a similar way to Cameron audaciously painting himself as the “heir to Blair”. In doing so Miliband set out a clear dividing line with the Tories in a subtler way than Gordon Brown, his former boss, could have managed.
This dividing line, surely the theme of the next two-and-a-half-years, is that the government is out of touch and unable to understand the plight of millions of families up and down the country who are seeing energy, petrol and transport prices increase while their salaries stay flat or fall. Osborne’s 50p tax cut has given him the perfect example to support this narrative even if Miliband may get a little flak for claiming all millionaires will get a £40,000 tax cut (it will only be those who earn a million).
Finally, the One Nation theme sets out a challenge to the Labour party. Miliband was explicit Labour had to be the party of the south as well as the north, the party of the private as well as the public sector, and not representative of a single sectional group. That is pretty transparent code a “core vote strategy” is not what he sees as the path to power. His appeal directly to the people who voted for Cameron last time around shows he understands Labour cannot win a majority on disaffected Lib Dems alone.
The only criticism that can be levelled at Miliband is he didn’t address the fiscal crisis Labour will inherit because of the double-dip recession – but his shadow chancellor touched on this yesterday as he himself has done in other speeches.
He will need to come back to this as the election approaches, but if he does that and can make the One Nation theme sing on the doorstep, he may find himself on the steps of No 10.
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers and to make the biggest impact we can in the next general election, we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That's why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward's work.
We still need another 124 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.
20 Responses to “Lab 2012: Miliband’s One Nation vision takes fight to Cameron and challenges Labour”
Selohesra
You clearly do not know the difference between ‘responding’ to the question and ‘answering’ the question – I deduce from that that you are a bit thick.
Newsbot9
AH right, so you have answered – you consider yourself and Ed fools. Thanks for that!
Selohesra
Ah yes – so now you’ve confirmed my deduction. Thank you.
I’ll make this my last comment for now as I have real work to do now for real money – something you in your Poly world you would not understand
Newsbot9
So basically you knew all along and you were grandstanding. Thanks for wasting my time, typical.
Ah yes, you have to run off to destroy more jobs and lower the GDP. Typical 1%er, who has to deride someone who does a wide range of jobs (this week, I’ve been teaching, am building a website for a film professional and will be doing a bit of game system design over the weekend…) as not understanding how the “real” economy works, since I create and not destroy value.
(PS, City University isn’t a poly)
Steven
Is Liam Byrne thick or just merely dim? You CAN’T get people back into work if the jobs AREN’T THERE and they AREN’T. We have AT LEAST 2.5 MILLION unemployed (in reality many more) chasing under 500,000 vacancies. THAT is the problem. When is the Labour Party going to stop repeating the moronic lies of rags like the Daily Moron?