Carwyn Jones says Labour must offer “hope” to triumph

Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones has said Labour must capture the spirit of 1997 and make the message clear: “vote for us, you get light at the end of the tunnel”.

Jones also told Ed Miliband to “keep on going” despite attacks in the media – including some from the Labour side. Speaking this weekend, he said:

“We can’t go into the election saying we will be a little less tough than the Tories. We have to say to people – and this is what we did in ‘97 – vote for us, you get light at the end of the tunnel, you get hope.”

Jones said that while the party would have to accept the difficult economic position of the country, focussing on a recovery down the line was important. He said voters are “looking for a party to say, ‘Yeah, things have been tough, they’re going to be tough for a little while longer. But we are going to get to a position where things will be better, where we will see a recovery across the income scale’. That’s crucial for the election.”

The Welsh Labour leader, who has been First Minister since 2009, had some advice for Miliband in the face of criticism in the press:

“Keep on going. When they’re trying to tackle you, run through the tackles. People are going to try and take you down all the time, but you have to keep on with the message you think is right, and represent the people who need you the most.”

Jones also had some advice for former Labour ministers who have recently publicly questioned some of Labour’s tactics: “If they want a Labour government then perhaps they’d like to be a bit more supportive than they have been.”

As someone who has been running a Government without a majority for over five years, Miliband could be turning to Carwyn Jones a little bit more in the months to come…