We can’t win by labelling the opposition – we need a positive message for what we will do

By Bill Dewison

Reading some of the articles in both the national press and on the LabourList over the past few days, you’d think that Labour politicians would have grasped why they are not winning elections any more.

Take a look at Norwich as a prime example. A combined low turnout and a poor campaign left Labour with virtually half the votes that the Conservative party received and rather than accept this reality we’ve been greeted with Labour ministers blaming the expenses scandal, the fact that their candidate became ill during the campaign and a protest over Ian Gibson’s resignation. If Labour had won, it would have been proof that the people believe Gordon Brown, but the fact they lost doesn’t reflect on Gordon Brown, it’s local issues and expenses that are to blame. Who are they trying to kid here?

Nationally over the past few months, rather than concentrate on real issues and connecting with the electorate, the Labour Party have made a concerted effort to target the Conservative party with, for want of a better phrase, name calling. So far we’ve had the ‘do nothing party’, ‘Mr. 10%’ and the least successful slur of branding the Conservatives as ‘nasty’.

When are they going to realise that even if the national press caught David Cameron hitting puppies over the head with a lump hammer, it won’t make the blindest bit of difference to the Labour vote. People are not switching their votes from Labour to Conservative at the moment; the Conservative vote is staying much the same – it is the Labour vote that is disappearing. The electorate are just not turning up on the day to vote for Labour.

Rather than waste time slurring the Conservatives and presenting the electorate with the impression that all the Labour Party can do is name call, why is there no coherent message to what the Labour Party will do with a 4th term? So far all I have heard is that Gordon Brown intends to give the electorate more of the same, which clearly isn’t working or the vote for Labour would still be there.

The electorate doesn’t want to hear insults being thrown by the Labour Party, they don’t want to hear that plans for particular policy are being delayed (this infers that the policy will be reinstated if Labour won the next general election) and they don’t want to hear about Labour’s past achievements. Any idea why? Because none of those things inspire confidence that Labour can really tackle the issues of the day.

The electorate want a Party to believe in, a Party of action but, more than that, a Party that listens. Whether the Conservative party are doing that doesn’t matter, they take their chances at the polls in the same way any other political party does. What matters is whether voters connect with the Labour Party and whether the Labour Party have anything to spur them into voting Labour. Do they?