'If elected, Labour will need to undertake a broad series of interventions to improve living standards. To win a second term, they will need to match those policies with effective messaging'

Eloise Sacares is a researcher at the Fabian Society

New policy announcements and political dramas may dominate the front pages, but this election is almost entirely about one thing – living standards. 

The majority of people do not feel better off than they were in 2010. The recent cost-of-living crisis has sent the price of essentials soaring, while real wages – already stagnant for over a decade – have failed to keep up. This is a dire position for the UK to be in and for a new government to inherit. But it does reinforce the need for vital change.  

However, if Labour does take office, they will need to be aware that the next election will be about living standards too. They will need to demonstrate living standards improvements throughout their term in office and ensure people feel better off in their daily lives. 

Upcoming Fabian research will show an incoming Labour government could do this. We are currently exploring how a government can improve living standards for low to middle income households in one parliament. Effective policy and bold ambition will of course be vital. But messaging is an important – yet often overlooked – part too. Without messaging that sustains public support for their policy agenda, politicians risk losing support among key voters or even being pressured to U-turn on decisions. 

There are two broad options for framing a strategy on improving living standards. The first is to focus on how measures will help lift people out of absolute poverty and acute hardship – and try to gain public support through compassion for those in the worst circumstances. The second is to try and include everyone, or at least a broad coalition of support – appealing to the idea that everyone will benefit from measures to raise living standards. 

There are several reasons why it might be more effective to focus messaging on supporting everyone, rather than just the least well off.

First, almost everyone is feeling the impact of the cost-of-living crisis and people tend to support measures to address it. A 2022 poll found that only 15 per cent of the population were not having to make lifestyle changes to cope with the rising cost of living. And while Rishi Sunak brags about falling inflation, people are still feeling the impacts of prices continuing to rise – with most believing the worst impacts are yet to come. Recent universal entitlements to address rising energy costs have gathered public support. For example, a 2023 poll found that 79 per cent believed it would be very or fairly helpful to them if the Energy Bills Support Scheme was extended. 

Second, the politics of social security have long been especially challenging for Labour. In a phenomenon often referred to as the ‘thermostat’ of public opinion, support for improving social security tends to rise and fall with accompanying changes to the generosity of the system. This creates a problem for sustaining public support. If messaging focuses on high levels of hardship to garner support for more generous social security entitlements, then the popularity of such measures won’t last when policies reduce that hardship. This then triggers less generosity, and the whole cycle starts again. 

Alternatively, if messages focus on the importance of the social security system for everyone, then we can begin to escape this cycle, and build and sustain a social security system that provides a liveable income to those who need it. 

Finally, attitudes towards providing more support to specific demographic groups are complicated and changing. While in the past it may have been effective to focus messaging on specific groups that were seen as more ‘deserving’ of increased government support (such as disabled people), this picture is actually far more complicated than people might think. While the public tends to support generous social security for people who are visibly, physically disabled (such as wheelchair users), there has also been significant political backlash to certain groups such as those with anxiety or depression receiving disability benefits, and people with these conditions tend to receive less public support. Focusing on improving living standards for all could help politicians avoid getting tangled in a complicated web of disability and welfare politics, which could ultimately backfire.

This broader, more inclusive messaging will need to be reconciled with more targeted policies – which, in current financial circumstances, may be the only realistic options. Policy tweaks to help specific groups such as carers, long term disabled people and new mothers, could make a big difference – and should be implemented by a new government as soon possible. One message which reconciles this tension, and has been shown to be effective, is ‘the social security system is supposed to support everyone, but especially those who need it most’. Messages such as these are effective because they make it clear that the system is for everyone — and in doing so navigate the fears people have about being left out or overlooked. 

If elected, Labour will need to undertake a broad series of interventions to improve living standards. To win a second term, they will need to match those policies with effective messaging, which attracts and retains public support, avoids alienating key voter groups, and that makes everyone feel better off. That’s a difficult task. But with the right communication strategy, it can be achieved.

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