Tories are in trouble but Labour fails to capitalise

UK Political Correspondent

Saturday 7 April 2012

The ComRes poll is enlightening because it focuses on one of the key questions for voters – whom should they trust to run the economy?

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Kate Devlin UK Political Correspondent

After weeks of negative headlines, it is perhaps not surprising that support for the Coalition on the issue is waning.

The Budget managed to alienate a large and varied constituency – grannies, pasty eaters, drivers, smokers, art lovers – the list has grown longer as the days have gone on. It also happened to come just a couple of weeks before "Bad Friday" when a number of cuts announced by the Coalition kicked in.

At the same time, the Coalition has stumbled as it attempted to sell any good news from the Budget, with ministers struggling to convince voters that the rise in the personal allowance gave them a tax cut. And the economic rabbit in the hat George Osborne did pull out during his Budget speech, a quickening of the pace in lowering corporation tax rates, has been barely mentioned amid the rows. And yet, bad as the numbers appear for the Coalition, Ed Miliband has failed to capitalise on Tory troubles.For all the Coalition's woes over the past few weeks, the Labour leader's trust ratings on the economy remain stubbornly low. Many of those who say they no longer trust David Cameron are not switching their allegiance to his opposition. In truth, Mr Miliband's ratings did increase slightly over the period, up 2% to 18%, while Ed Balls's were stable on 15%.However, the figures suggest Labour needs an awful lot more fortnights like the last one in the months ahead if it even wants to draw level with the Conservatives. Many within the party recognise there is a long road ahead. But Labour is becoming more confident. Insiders say talks with business in recent months have been positive. Captains of industry might not be on their side quite yet, but they are interested to hear what the party has to say – a big difference from a few months ago. Mr Miliband's Labour Party conference speech, in which he described businesses as either "producers" or "predators", has gone down much better with many companies, which feared being tarnished by the reputation of so-called bad firms, than it did with the general public, although the party also believes it will begin to chime with the voters over time. How can Labour do more to capitalise on the Coalition's recent weaknesses? The UK Government believes much of the outcry over the Budget will begin to dissipate. The Coalition hunch is that outrage over the granny tax will not continue long-term because, as a real-terms cut instead of a cash cut, people will not notice less money in their accounts. Looking ahead, however, the Coalition is not out of the woods just yet. For all the rhetoric, the Budget is not predicted to stimulate much growth. And the contyroversial abolition of the 50p tax rate next April looms on the horizon. But Labour knows it cannot afford only to concentrate its firepower on attacking the Coalition for giving tax breaks to millionaires. It has to offer a positive future to be trusted on the economy again.

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Tories are in trouble but Labour fails to capitalise

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