A poll conduced at the end of February by Ipsos-MORI for The Economist shows that the economy continues to be the public's most pressing concern. This is potentially a double-edged sword for Labour. The public still blame Labour, rather than the banks for the deficit. Moving beyond that will be easier said than done.
A poll conduced at the end of February by Ipsos-MORI for The Economist shows that the economy continues to be the public’s most pressing concern.
This is potentially a double-edged sword for Labour.
With the increasingly influential presence of Lynton Crosby in the Tory camp, not to mention the loss of the Eastleigh by-election, David Cameron will come under increasing pressure from Tory backbenchers to shift policy further to the Right.
Nothing new here of course.
An excellent (separate) piece for the Economist today notes that in the run up to the 2005 election, an emboldened Tory Right sought to “shift…emphasis [in the party] away from public services towards immigration, crime and, of course, Europe…”.
They largely succeeded, resulting in a calamitous electoral defeat for Tory leader Michael Howard in a winnable election.
Backbench ideologues rarely learn lessons from history, so expect Cameron to face similar demands as worried MPs sense weakness on the back of humiliations like that in Eastleigh.
Labour can, indeed, take a degree of solace from the prospect of the Tories scrabbling around to prevent their core vote indulging Nigel Farage’s protest party.
No more than a degree of solace, though.
While Ed Miliband has been wise to turn his attention to economic concerns of late in the form of (largely symbolic) policy proposals on the mansion tax and the 10p tax rate, Labour is still suffering badly when voters are asked about the economy, as a poll for YouGov this week showed.
Q a) Which party would handle Britain’s economy best?
Q b) Who would you trust more to run the economy?
| a) Which party? | b) Which team? | ||||||
| Con | Lab | Other/ Don’t know | Cameron/ Osborne | Miliband/ Balls | Not sure | ||
| % | % | % | % | % | % | ||
| Apr 2012 | 28 | 27 | 45 | 36 | 28 | 35 | |
| Jul 2012 | 27 | 26 | 47 | 34 | 31 | 35 | |
| Oct 2012 | 26 | 28 | 46 | n/a | n/a | n/a | |
| Dec 2012 | 28 | 27 | 45 | 37 | 26 | 37 | |
| Feb 2013 | 27 | 29 | 44 | 35 | 29 | 37 |
As Peter Kelner phrased it:
“Almost three years after Gordon Brown left Downing Street, more people still blame Labour rather than the Conservatives for the state of the economy and the public spending cuts that Osborne has imposed. Secondly, when asked who they trust more to run the economy, more people still prefer Cameron and Osborne to Miliband and Balls.”
While Labour is right to focus on the economy – it is voters’ main concern and Osborne is the government’s biggest liability – doing so is a double-edged sword. It is potentially Labour’s strongest area of attack, but it also risks a damaging boomerang effect.
Moving beyond the fact that the public appear to still blame Labour, rather than the banks, for the deficit will be easier said than done.
In the public mind, the party is still stuck in the Gordon Brown era, and the failure to win the argument in 2009/10 that it was the banks rather than the government which was to blame for the crisis still hangs around the party’s neck like an albatros.
142 Responses to “Labour is still struggling to leave the Brown era behind”
Mick
If the Nordics are happy with the EU then fine and dandy. Mind, in Norway, they don’t seem to be: http://www.teameurope.info/node/814
And the Swedes are annoyed at the budget: http://www.nyuinterventional.com/swedish-dissatisfaction-with-the-eu-bugdet/
And the Danes haven’t been that keen to wrap themselves in the straitjacket either: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=pKJMCVWARm4C&pg=PA376&lpg=PA376&dq=denmark+dissatisfaction+eu&source=bl&ots=BBlki09pYQ&sig=rm3ZVM0vFnlPCoX3mGm6DtjGvo4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4VQyUcTqLKGs0QWVv4CwCQ&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=denmark%20dissatisfaction%20eu&f=false
But still, Newsbot says they’re happy.
And referenda are democratic, unless the EU butts in. Democratic enough for Bertie Aherne to be pressured into re-issuing Ireland’s referendum until the ‘correct’ response came in.
Pathetic.
Mick
‘Keep parroting the sexist, patronising big brother line of your Dear Leader.’
I see you haven’t calmed down dear. And my links came from everywhere, even the Guardian. And they sourced from everywhere. I give you variety, no doubt about that.
And I suppose I would go to jail under a Newsbot government, were I to be squeezed in after mutualists filled them with bank managers and landlords.
Newsbot9
Yes, you are.
Keep claiming your revisionism, your love of lies on TV and foreign cash buying your way. Keep on claiming that the Nordics, who have embraced the EU, are like you because you can point to minor points of conflict.
The Swedish annoyance is actually at the budget which has come in thanks to the obstructionism of Britain. And well done, you’ve found a book discussing the 1990’s. We’re in 2012 now.
Mick
Yeah, desperate fight for a time-honoured system that works and lasts. Parties can represent their supporters as much or little as they like, what counts is how many ordinary people vote for them. And under FPTP, whoever has the most votes wins.
Under PR, even a party with a normally landslide majority would still be faced with an uphill job of governing in the face of myriad, opposing forces who will need to be dealt with, appeased, sopped-to and generally consulted whenever the top party wants top actually bother with running the place.
Just like today’s coalition magnified many-fold, stuff won’t get done and nobody knows where anyone stands. And as you know, there’s enough of that already.
Newsbot9
As I said. You’re simply parroting your Dear Leader’s line, trying to dismiss real issues because they are not Ideologically Correct, you’re being PC again.
And only if you seriously broke the law, which evidently you’re scared of. And keep making up nonsense about mutualists to justify your wild-eyed bigotry