An election pledge card of two halves?

So far Ed Miliband has revealed two of Labour’s General Election pledges – first was a commitment to eliminating the deficit, which was quickly followed by a second on immigration.

These pledge have been broadly supported by LabourList readers in our weekly survey this week, and that’ll be good news for Miliband and his team as they begin go think about their Christmas break, as these pledges were always likely to be the most contentious and hardest to sell to Labour activists, supporters and even MPs. Those around the Labour leader will be reassured by the relative lack of rancour in the party in recent weeks (especially as the polls remain variable, but still tight).

The party’s aim in pushing these pledges out first was both that they were considered the most necessary (dealing as they do with the party’s negatives on the economy and immigration), but there also seems to have been an element of getting them out of the way first (before Christmas certainly) so that the additional pledge in the new year could allow Labour to refocus on areas where the party is stronger and on policies which Labour activists are more likely to be enthused about.

What might these new year pledges be? Obviously there will be an NHS pledge (how could there not be?) and restating the party’s commitments on housing seems likely. It’s possible we may see some clarity on Higher Education funding too, and perhaps this might be an opportunity to return to the earlier talk of full employment.

Of course, this is not a strategy without risk. The pledges unveiled in the new year must be big enough to match the scale of the challenge Britain faces (which has, at times, been the problem with Labour’s policy offer – it has talked big but walked small). If what the Labour leadership ends up unveiling are a series of pledges that underwhelm (coming after pledges which the party is swallowing without much great enthusiasm) then it may prove hard to motivate activists (and therefore voters) when the time comes to vote in May.

With the election campaign starting officially today and the election itself only four and a half months away, that’s the party’s challenge in the months ahead.To enthuse a cynical electorate and a sometimes cynical and tired party. To provide a focus around which voters seeking real change can rally. It’s easy to be fatalistic about the chances of that happening, but with the polls where they are Labour must defy political gravity to win the election. And that’s going to require a fundamental change in the scale and scope of the party’s ambition – by growing the offer, rather than shrinking it.