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.
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142 Responses to “Labour is still struggling to leave the Brown era behind”
Mick
Even Michael Heseltine criticised the government over growth, and he’s hardly a pinko. However, the economy was not recovering but merely holding over with bodge repairs of high borrowing, tax and splurge expenditure. Brown knew he’d lose and went for broke, literally. The Tories have to do what they can but are stuck between a rock and a hard place. And the Lib-Dems. They’re not as focussed as they could be.
And Labour post-war? Ah yes, more strikes, more hyper inflation, more bankruptcy and a stricken pound. At one point you couldn’t travel abroad with more than a tenner in notes.
Mick
No, scratch that – it was a fiver!
Newsbot9
Right right, statistics denial. Keep on complaining about that. The Tories are doing exactly what they can to keep things broke, yes.
And keep talking down a time of growth in the UK. Where the poor got richer.
Newsbot9
“Get Tough”, i.e. “Generate loads more crime” ideas, right. And no, crime overall plummeted. You’re the one who loves criminals so much you’re determined to generate more of them!
If you bullied people and they pushed back, you are to blame. And no, it’s now rising sharply. Again, you’re ignoring the actual crime survey figures.
But hey, keep pushing your moral panics rather than dealing with reality.
Mick
It wasn’t just the Sun, it was published everywhere, like here. And they worked from the figures: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/7400372/True-scale-of-violent-crime-rise-revealed.html
And as for putting crims on community service instead…. yeah, as if that worked. It was brought in under Labour and apparently left to fester under Cameron: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19328639
I’m no cheerleader for the coalition. But I recognise a lot of stuff has to be done but also that a lot of stuff is a pile of rubbish. A4e could go in the bin, though if housing benefit can actually cover peoples’ rent then that should be the only concern. And if it can’t then the government should revise.