You are here: Home » News »

Latest polling shows Labour AHEAD on the economy

January 15, 2013 10:50 am

Author:

Mark Ferguson

Share this Article

Many Labour writers and commentators have written recently that Labour needs to improve its position on the economy, as recent polling has shown us increasingly falling behind the Tories.

However when YouGov asked on Sunday and Monday which political party would best handle “the economy in general”, Labour was in fact ahead of the Tories (albeit marginally), by 29% to 28%. Here’s the data as a graph:

Economic credibility is still a big concern for Labour, and will need to improve before 2015, but this polling suggests that the polling isn’t as bad for Labour as some might have imagined.

(Labour also led on Europe, Taxation, Education and Unemployment. the Tories led on Law & Order and Asylym & Immigration)

johnproblem

I reckon even Mickey Mouse would be ahead of the Tories on managing the economy….
Redshift1

I’ve always said it’d be madness to abandon the Keynesian analysis. Stick to our guns.
John Ruddy

We’ve been neck and neck since the Budget. One month we are in front by a point (as in October 2012), one month they are.
aracataca

Excellent. Public opinion is shifting away from the idea that the Tories are the party of economic competence (they never were!) and Labour needs to capitalise on this, perhaps by being more assertive about exploding the myths that the Tories (and LibDems) have been allowed to get away with for so long.

Admittedly that’s not easy because of the Tory bias in the media. However, many people remember how bad things may have been for them in the 80s and 90s, as opposed to relative affluence during the Blair/Brown years. They are also losing patience with the idea that everything is somehow the fault of the Labour government. They may also have noticed that the economy was improving before Osborne got his grubby mitts on it, and also that there was a worldwide crisis which couldn’t possibly have been entirely down to Brown and Balls.

The Tory targeting of Balls is particularly stupid, since he was in Education from 2007. It may be backfiring as well, since Balls’s forecasts have been proved right.

And Osborne has never apologised for slandering Balls over Libor. Can’t imagine the media would have been very impressed if the boot had been on the other foot …
- Alexwilliamz
  
  Bottom line remains that all parties have proven themselves far worse at ‘running’ the economy than they claim. We need to construct a credible policy to counter the Tories race to the bottom economic state of nature narrative in which we are in some kind of fight with the bric economies. A start would be direct get action to achieve energy security as this will give us a base to insulate against fluctuations and will begin to give advantage to home goods vs imports. The big idea is that we should not be trying to out china china, but instead focus on our strengths before they are lost or emasculated through a one dimensional education system. We should be looking at expanding production of goods for the home market, feeding this should be an international profile focussing on innovation and creativity. We need to capture every penny including production income from new ideas, while the initial patent protects, then throw it over to others to exploit while we have already moved on.
  - AlanGiles
    
    Spot on Alex. For example I heard on the BBC yesterday that Britain, where Graphene was discovered and developed at Manchester University (albeit by two Russian scientists), we hold 54 patents, whereas China and other countries have hundreds.
    
    Yet another reminder, not only of the fact that great and important things come out of universities other than Oxbridge, but of how short-sighted we are.
    
    I was lucky enough to be of the generation that, while we only went to secondary modern schools (in my case leaving at 15) we had the opportunity to get on because of wonderful Technical Colleges, which gave the less academic amongst us a chance to learn when school had ended for us, helped us find (dare I say it? ) careers (only politicians and entertainers talk about “careers” these days – politicians merely talk about ordinary people in terms of “jobs” and keeping people “occupied” as if they were lavatory cubicles), gave us support and inspiration – we had wonderful tutors, and even if they didn’t speak like Brian Sewell, they were craftsmen and engineers. If I were an education minister I would look into reintroducing them.
aracataca

This blog is well worth a read. It challenges the lying rubbish about the economy that’s been trotted out by the government and its supporters.

http://alittleecon.wordpress.com/2013/01/11/countering-myths/
MrSauce

A dose of nostalgia –
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21027426

Latest

News
Full text: Miliband’s speech pledging tuition fees cut

Ed Miliband MP, Leader of the Labour Party, in a speech at Leeds College of Music, said: Today is about the young people of Britain. And all who care about them right across the generations. I have listened to you. And today I pledge the government I lead is going to work with you to change your future for the better. Four years ago I said the Promise of Britain – that the next generation will do better than the […]
Read more →
Featured
Labour confirm pledge to slash tuition fees by a third in email to supporters

As expected, Labour have today confirmed that they pledge to cut tuition fees from £9,000 to £6,000 a year. In an email sent out to thousands of supporters by Ed Miliband in the last few moments. This is the fourth Labour election pledge (after reducing the deficit, controlling immigration, and funding for the NHS), and Miliband says it is a promise they will keep: “And unlike with certain other parties, that’s a promise you can rely on.” Update: Here’s the […]
Read more →
Comment
Labour has given young people a chance to shape their own futures

By Ivan Lewis

It is a harsh reality that too often politics responds to those who shout the loudest. We know that young people are currently far less likely to vote than their parents and grandparents, and as a result they have been ignored for too long and written off as ‘non-voters’. The situation is made worse by the missing million who have dropped off the electoral register this year alone, many of whom are young people and students. The Tories seem relaxed […]
Read more →
News
Dugher stokes row with Jeremy Clarkson, brands Top Gear presenter “an idiot”

Labour Shadow Transport Secretary Michael Dugher has become embroiled in a bizarre row with Jeremy Clarkson after saying he is not a fan of Top Gear. Dugher said of the BBC show, which has a Guinness world record for being the most watched factual programme in the world, “I don’t watch the programme, it’s not my kind of telly.” But the Barnsley East MP had harsher words still for Clarkson, describing him as “basically an idiot” and questioning the extent […]
Read more →
News
Clamp down on second jobs and nationalise railways, say LabourList readers

At the start of this week, allegations of a ‘cash-for-access’ scandal were levelled at Jack Straw MP and Sir Malcolm Rifkind MP. Following this, Ed Miliband reiterated his pledge that if Labour win in May, MPs of the party would be banned from taking up paid directorship and consultancy positions. Miliband went on to ask Cameron if he would support a bill to do the same for MPs across all parties. Labour used their Opposition Day in the Commons on Wednesday […]
Read more →