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”
Newsbot9
A majority of MP’s under FPTP does not require anything like a majority of voters, let alone the potential voter pool.
And that’s right, your Tories will be out again. For another generation. Sadly, we’ll have centralists in power.
Mick
Do I take that as representative of attitudes amongst most PR fans? ‘If I can’t have my guys in, then let’s have your guys out for a generation?’
And if MPs want the most votes, they’d better appeal to the most people. And what’s more democratic is that the party itself can shape that image. If some misbehave, it tars the others. They have lots at stake.
Newsbot9
It’s not foreign. We’re EU members. But keep on making up xenophobic arguments. We vote for the EU Parliament AND the House of Commons. We don’t vote for the House of Lords.
The democratic deficit is in the UK.
Moreover, you might be silly enough to believe Hannan. Unfortunately for you, I pay attention to reality. It’s your typical Tory “using statistics to lie” as usual – given many enabling legislation is very short. It’s a far, far smaller percentage of the actual text passed as laws.
Newsbot9
You’re saying I said something I didn’t. Either you’re claiming to be me, or you’re claiming to control me. Make up your mind. Your view of anything outside your views as “comedy” is typically totalitarian.
Newsbot9
Nope, your moral terms are yours. You’re the one who is the witch hunter, with your zealous fire and determination to burn the heretics.
Sensibly adjusting the tax system to de-emphasise unearned income is the mutualist approach – a sensible, gradualist approach based on clear social objectives (work paying sufficient for people to live on without needing direct government funding)