Thoughts on Red Ed's relaunch

[longfingernails]

As far as I can tell, he still has absolutely no theme - or vision of what Labour can achieve in a time when there is no money for more public spending.

I understand that he can't detail policy - after all, he disagrees with half the PLP, including Alan Johnson, on policy, and less snarkily, it may be politically unwise to reveal his hand too soon anyway.

In my mind, his biggest problem is that he doesn't even seem to be able to articulate his values though. In the leadership election, it was pretty clear: he was quite a lot to the left of centre. Now, though, it is totally ambiguous. He knows that he has to tack to the centre for credibility, but doesn't, at a gut level, understand how. Like Gordon Brown, he just doesn't "get" why 35% of the population ( far more than just the toffs) votes Tory.

The bit where he was asked what the squeezed middle actually was on the Today programme was hilarious.

"One term government and as usual labour will have to repair the social damage done to society"

The problem for Ed is that the last 'repair job' is increasingly looking like a 'band aid' job. And Blair's 'legacy' is looking shaky.

The exception being education - where Gove is (to some extent) building on Blair's ideas.

Actually, I take it back- I think she works for the Labour party, and puts forward a Conservative viewpoint so we can argue against it. Hey presto! Instant Labour party policies

"Actually, I take it back- I think she works for the Labour party, and puts forward a Conservative viewpoint so we can argue against it. Hey presto! Instant Labour party policies"

If that all Labour have got - Ed is in big trouble .

I'm not sure she works for the Conservative party, but she does know alot about Conservative policy. Either way, it is refreshing and makes a change from so many other posters who self-evidently work for the Monster Raving Loony Party.

I can see no reason why the labour party shouldn't win a GE on the basis of 'we don't like these cuts - boo hiss'. Didn't this lot win with a similar lack of detail?

However, I don't think these cuts will stay in the electorates' minds long enough to be an issue come the next GE.

I feel fairly confident that the tory whizz kids will manage to sort out this crisis just in time to give away a nice tax bribe cut.

No one believes the yah boo Labour front bench, with their dapper shiny suits and their fake suntans, as they pontificate from the dispatch box. We all know they would have made very similar cuts and are now just cynically playing to the gallery.

They introduced tuition fees in the first place. They tell us that they have turned over a new leaf, and that so much of what they did in the past was wrong. They tell us that New Labour is finished and they are all progressives now. They underestimate the intelligence of the public. We won't be fooled again.

Are you crazy?!@wubbly

I found out this week that my local (Tory) council are cutting their youth service by 80% in the next 12 months. 80 per cent! And the plan is to have cut the number of council staff from 4,000 to 400 by 2012.

I think we are going to remember that.

The Tories are using the cuts to do what they have always done: slash the size of the public sector, limit the role of the state.

If you agree with those politics (ie. Conservatism) - fine. But I wish the Tories would be honest about it.

Likewise, it's time Ed stood up for what he believes in.

But doesn't Ed believe in a socialist Santa Claus who will bail us out with sledge loads of money? Maybe he is not standing up because the public has already stood the socialists down.

No Yule, just depressed!

Sadly, even where there isn't exactly support, I'm still see a lot of ambivalence towards the cuts. Of course, it helps that the tabloids are having a field day supporting the fallacy that the cuts only affect the work shy, lazy, scrounging benefit claimants.

I'm tired of hearing 'but what can they do?, it's not as though they want to make these cuts...'

People seem to genuinely believe that.

That sort of attitude belongs in the guffawing backbenches, claig.

What we need is some proper, adult dialogue and for politicians to at least be honest and upfront about their most basic political / ideological motives. Which none of them are.

I agree@wubbly.

I sometimes think we are a nation of dimwits

As I have had to explain a hundred times before on MN.

I am not a CCHQ plant. I am not even a member of the Conservative party. I am not a journalist, PR flunky, or think-tanker. I work in a private sector company, in a sector completely unrelated to politics.

I am, however, addicted to politics. I don't particularly see the need to post in BF threads given those days are long behind me.

BTW I often criticise the Tories, and David Cameron. For example, I think he, like all recent PMs, is selling us out to the EU.

Do you agree that he has a complexion like Nice Ham?

" tired of hearing 'but what can they do?, it's not as though they want to make these cuts...'"

• The problem for Labour is there's a very strong media narrative in the coalition's favour.

The media narrative goes something like:

1 We trusted the Labour with our economy and they ruined it (quelle surprise!).

1. They borrowed scary amounts of money and gave it to (some combination of): the bankers, MP's expenses, the feckless benefit scroungers, useless quangos, private landlords, or general waste and inefficiency.

1. We voted in the Tories to sort it out - but because we don't fully trust them we made them work with the LibDems.

1. We understand the cuts are necessary (in part because Ed Balls has told us they are not).

1. The cuts will effect us all, not just the poorest.

• cue middle class parents moaning about lost child

benefit and pretty young students shaking police vans.

1. So it's going to be painful - but we've only ourselves to blame (after all we did trust Labour with our economy).

Labours response so far has been a mixture of deficit denial, blame shifting, finger pointing and seemly jumping on every (middles class) bandwagon going.

Excellent analysis, jackstarbright.

Depressing, but excellent.