It isn't enough to be half competent, polling well on some areas but poorly on others.
It isn’t enough to be half competent, polling well on some areas but poorly on others
The weekend polling will not have made great reading for Ed Miliband. A YouGov poll in today’s Sunday Times (£) gave the Tories a two-point lead over Labour, 36 per cent to 34 per cent. This came after a poll on Friday which gave the Tories a single point lead.
Meanwhile criticism of Miliband’s strategy from key Labour Party figures has been growing louder. Former deputy PM John Prescott accused Labour in the Sunday Mirror of pursuing a ‘core vote strategy’, while Labour MP John Mann has branded the latest polling a ‘wake-up call’ to those ‘at the top of the party’.
Former adviser to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown Patrick Diamond has also said that Labour ‘appears politically on the back foot’.
Along with the two polls, concerns about the party’s direction of travel appear to have been heightened by the recent party conference, where Miliband was criticised for ‘forgetting’ the two sections of his speech which dealt with immigration and the deficit.
It would be a mistake, however, to view this as simply a case of a leader of the opposition fluffing his lines. Miliband’s forgetfulness is indicative of a bigger problem Labour has had recently of focusing on areas where the party is already strong – to the detriment of areas where the Tories have a lead.
In contrast, David Cameron has done the opposite, focusing on the NHS in order to make inroads into Labour’s lead on the issue but, more importantly, balancing the Conservatives’ ‘tough’ message with compassion.
Now Labour needs to focus on the areas where it is viewed with suspicion. Yes it’s important to draw attention to the coalition’s failure to protect the NHS, but Labour must also fight on ground where it is seen in a more negative light. According to YouGov, over half (55 per cent) think the economy is the most important issue facing the country, while 55 per cent think immigration and asylum are. In contrast, health is chosen by 39 per cent.
That means talk about health – certainly – but don’t necessarily view it as the issue that will decide the election. September polling by Ipsos MORI found that the most important issue for voters at the next election is the economy – and the Tories have a lead here of 25 points. This is not good enough.
The Conservatives appear finally to have grasped that the best-rounded party will win next year’s election. For the Tories this means keeping a tough message on the deficit, welfare and immigration but balancing it with messaging on safeguarding the NHS and rewarding hard work.
Labour ought to take note and recognise that, if it wants to win power next year, it will have to convince voters it can be trusted in those areas where it is currently weak. That means talking, where appropriate, about the deficit, about immigration and about business.
It isn’t enough to be half competent, polling well on some areas but poorly on others. Voters want to see a government-in-waiting. They want to know that Labour has all its bases covered, not only those it feels comfortable attacking the coalition on.
The idea of ‘One Nation’ Labour, which Miliband appears to have dropped of late, is premised on the notion that Labour can govern for everyone; or more specifically, that everyone is a potential Labour voter. Such a strategy has far more potential than anything which focuses solely on Labour’s ‘core vote’, but pursuing it means meeting voters head on in every area which might shape their voting decision next May.
Labour still hasn’t done enough to address its weaknesses. It has talked an awful lot to the party, but not enough to the country.
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47 Responses to “Labour must address its weaknesses”
RomJim
It seems to me that the basic Labour Party approach to the economy should be about investment and fairness. The current impression is that it is about austerity-lite i.e. we can do the same as the Tories/Lib dems but fairer. This is not what people want to hear and it will be impossible to get people out to vote for it. The Labour Party needs to be saying it will invest £2.5bn in the NHS at the outset not after it has raised the cash from taxes. It needs to be saying it will invest in housing up front and then we will have economic activity with people working and spending.
Let’s not forget that there will be a boost to housing completions in the months before the election because the grants are geared to completions in the quarter up to the end of March 2015. The government cut the housing grants and ensured that it was going to be conditional on completions before the end of March 2015 – a typical piece of message management by the Tories.
Labour needs a robust unit which responds to any message from the government which is untrue and there will be a lot of them – I don’t know who Ed Miliband’s equivalent of Alastair Campbell is but he needs to start earning his corn and quick!!
Chris Kitcher
What we need is a real person so come on Alan Johnson make a go of it and challenge for the leadership NOW.
Matthew Blott
You’re spot on. Identity politics has killed the Left’s ability to get a hearing with vast swathes of the population. This article should be posted on Labour List.
The_Average_Joe_UK
So thats one What about the rest of the uber weak and detached shad cab? Will you deal with Balls? the vacuous Chukka and his mirror, the hopeless Reeves, who is so far away from pension age that she thinks she has a right not to know? The Eagles have never taken off and wouldn’t know a landing if it was sat in front of them. Perhaps Yvette, ignore all the criticism and stay on message no matter how flawed all through the interview? Is Harriet still denying Pie? Perhaps Tristram who was humiliated by Gove when he pointed out all the inaccuracies in his new book?
Alan isn’t stupid enough to walk into the disaster created by Miliband.
Leon Wolfeson
No. Depersonalisation is a sickness in politics, and I have very little in common with the right.
Streaming is bad for kids, the evidence is there in studies. You want to downskill the UK radically, meaning we would either need to import Graduates like Germany, or face seeing a massive loss of business (we need *both* a high graduate *and* vocational training), the UK does not need your politics of hate against the Other or your far right causing problems all the freaking time…I fully expect your allies violence to rise in towns, yes)
You want to make things worse. You try and deny your right wing dogma, trying to have an argument which is dishonest and hence disallows debate from the start. Simply saying “bankers bad” while not doing anything about bankers, but instead trying to take away education etc.
And why would I not be angry with those who would wreck this nation? We’re in a downwards wage/productivity spiral and you’re STILL lashing out at Labour and assigning blame to a moderate right wing party, for not being strongly enough on your side!
No, the problem is people don’t care enough.