It’s becoming more difficult to see how Cameron and his sub-standard team could take the reins

By Jessica Asato

Cameron’s performance on Andrew Marr’s programme on Sunday could easily lead a Labour supporter to think the game’s up for the Conservatives. Let’s be honest, in 2008 the Tories looked like they were steadily progressing towards contention for the leadership of this country. But ever since their initial flim-flam response in October to the economic situation faced by the nation, it’s becoming more difficult to see how Cameron and, under his own admission, his sub-standard team, could take the reins.

There were two main reasons why I thought Cameron sounded desperately weak on Sunday. The first rests with the sheer lack of ambition in the Tories’ economic strategy, and the second is because their political strategy fails to help those people who need it most.

So reason number one. While Obama prepares his final plans for a massive fiscal stimulus, much greater, but along the same lines as Labour’s, Cameron seems to think that Britain’s economic situation could be solved by shaving off a few billion here and there from government expenditure. While he magnanimously pledges to continue Labour’s spending on health, schools and international development (am I allowed to cynically suggest he is trying to hang on to the remnants of his old strategy to decontaminate the Tory brand by appealing to the development lobby here?), the Tories would slash spending in government departments which have an equal claim for funding relevance in the current crisis.

Infrastructure investment will be crucial, but there goes the chop on the transport and business budgets. Investing in developing new green technologies as we struggle to hold on to old methods of manufacturing will continue to be important, but here comes the guillotine for the department for climate change. And what about the department that’s going to be right in the forefront of protecting people’s jobs and getting them back to work – Work and Pensions? That’s likely to feel the Tory brush off too. And all because, as Cameron admitted in the interview himself, the first instinct of a Conservative is to cut state expenditure, rather than to use the state to help a nation in a crisis.

Even when you add in a few extra pence saved from that old chestnut government waste, how could this possibly amount to an economic plan with real gumption? Economists of the future will surely wonder at the small fry nature of the Conservative response to this global situation.

Second, Cameron portrays himself as the saviour of savers, but this masks the fact that savers are the bedrock of Tory votes, rather than the constituency who most need help at the present time. It is of course important that older voters who rely on their savings as income get as much support as possible, which is why the government has already made more cash available for every pensioner through November’s PBR. But the most important thing at the moment is to get the banks lending again and find ways of getting those people who spend, rather than save, to do so. By putting saving at the forefront of his strategy, Cameron has shown he is prepared to put party political gain at the expense of finding statesmanlike solutions to the rocky economic future most of the world’s economies face.

One cautionary note, however, before we get too carried away with feeling incredulous about the Tory strategy for the economy: Cameron is still striking a real chord on other issues which we know voters worry more about in times of economic insecurity – namely crime and immigration. Alongside the package of measures Labour is prioritising for the economy, we need to pay more attention to tackling voters’ concerns about crime and take on the Conservative argument about “Broken Britain” which will increase in resonance as the recession approaches. Labour has a good record on identifying measures for tackling anti-social behaviour and giving communities the tools to combat persistent offenders, but this should be matched with a new narrative as Britain faces slowing growth and hard choices in the future, requiring everyone to pull together to get Britain moving again.

As we’ve found our dividing lines with the Conservatives on the economy, let’s find a language to help show the public Labour continues to be on their side in every aspect of their daily lives too.

Jessica Asato is Acting Director of Progress, an independent Labour party pressure group.