Ideas for electability: Rebuilding Labour’s reputation on the economy

The Labour movement column

By Anthony Painter

Today is the coalition’s day. It is also a definitive day for the future of the economy and the decency of British society. We do know that 100,000s of public sector workers will lose their jobs. We do know that the basic architecture of the public sector will be dismantled and the services it delivers radically diminished. And we know that the economy will be placed in enormous jeopardy.

Occasionally the full consequences of the cuts will rise to the surface as in the preposterous aircraft carriers that won’t carry fixed-wing planes until 2019. Underneath it will be really ugly. Only those directly affected and who work in the surfaces will know right from the off. Eventually, we will all know as we are all directly affected in one way or another. Those on the lowest or no incomes will feel the harsh reality of the spending review immediately.

These cuts are really exposing a remarkable potential for the absurd. Take Grant Shapps who goes further than the rest in seizing the prize as Minister of Stupid. His colleagues routinely ignore reality and the best economic advice that cautions of the potential impact of these cuts on growth. He goes one step further and denies the laws of supply and demand altogether as he restricts house building through his planning policies; waves through a brutal cut in social housing investment; watches rents rise as housing benefit payments are arbitrarily cut; and boots out those who have done well in life from their home pulling even harder at the weave of community in the process. His reward will no doubt be a place in the Cabinet of Stupid.

There is something even worse than all this however. And those on the left need to pause for breath from the anger and incredulity in order to contemplate it. All of these coalition cuts are happening with breathtaking ease. Public sector workers have no voice with which to resist. Goodness, not even the Navy was capable of resistance. The weakest are completely without political defence. They are all dole scroungers who spend their days watching and appearing on Jeremy Kyle remember.

It is the job of the Labour Party to make the case. But there is just one problem with this. It’s the Labour Party itself. ‘Make the case’ is the political strategy of the voiceless. What it means in effect is turning up the volume. But no matter how loudly Labour shouts, its volume still remains close to zero. The simple fact is that few are listening. And until Labour repairs its economic and fiscal responsibility it will simply be a repository for discontent rather than listened to as a credible alternative government.

Comres reports that 45% support the Cameron/Osborne economic team over 23% who back Miliband/Johnson. According to YouGov, 60% see these cuts as unavoidable. Not only that but 48% blame Labour for the coalition’s cuts. They are worried about the economic impact of the cuts for sure but this shouldn’t be mistaken for a resurgence of faith in Labour’s message. Its economic credentials have been in the doldrums for two and a half years now. Things are sticking. 82% consider that Labour should be clearer about where it would cut public spending. So the old ‘we are an opposition’ plea doesn’t seem to be working.

All in all, Labour has an enormous distance to travel. The assumption is that pain from the cuts and a resulting economic downturn will reset the board. I’m just not sure that’s a strong enough assumption on which to gamble the entire ability of Labour to lever this coalition out of office.

The parallel is the Conservatives after Black Wednesday. Their economic reputation did not recover properly until the credit crunch- fifteen years later. So in other words, if Labour doesn’t find a way of detaching itself from its current reputation, it may also have to wait for a further economic reversal to recover. Waiting for something to go wrong for a rival – in love, business, or politics – is corrosive, deeply unhealthy, and destined to fail. Instead, Labour needs to regain a significant voice in the conversation.

Step one is admitting where it went wrong without conceding where it was absolutely right. It was right to invest heavily in the NHS. It was wrong to allow much of this investment to be eaten up in health service inflation and unspectacular productivity improvements. It was right to stimulate the economy in the face of the worst financial crisis to hit this nation in decades. There were areas of spending that could have been managed more efficiently before; Labour should have treated your money as carefully as if it was its own. Too often it did not.

Labour didn’t do enough to regulate the City or build a more solid foundation for growth; one that didn’t expose us so much to international calamity and one that spread growth, wealth and opportunity more widely. An apology? Maybe but what’s critically important is that Labour must go through a process of penance in order to demonstrate its character reform. And then going forward Labour must show clearly that it understands not only the magnitude of the fiscal challenge but also the need to protect the economy and the stability of society. Ed Miliband has already flagged the rhetoric; it’s now time for the substance.

A good society is not just about deficit reduction. But for Labour to make its case for a better society, it must demonstrate that it is absolutely serious about the deficit albeit with economic safeguards built in – something the coalition has neglected to do. Having done that, it must then create a credible vision for creating jobs, wealth, and opportunity for all in the future.

So that’s my ‘idea for electability’: restore Labour’s reputation on the economy and the deficit. That means honesty about the past, a stronger line on the deficit, and a credible vision of the economy of the future. It’s not sexy. It won’t get a standing ovation. It won’t make many feel good. But without this ‘idea for electability’ there is no point having any others because Labour will never have the opportunity to implement them.