ONE of Ed Miliband's own MPs has urged the Labour leader to ditch "torturous" political mantras like "One Nation", because they turn off voters.
Simon Danczuk, the MP for Rochdale, also took a swipe at the Conservative's repeated use of the phrase "hardworking people".
The public no longer responded to the kind of simple political messaging successfully employed by Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson, Mr Danczuk said.
But Labour insisted it would continue to use "One Nation", as party sources pointed to the successes of the party's sloganeering.
Last month Lib Dem business minister Jo Swinson appeared to accept Labour's charge that there was a "cost of living crisis" when she used the phrase in Commons.
A Scottish Labour source also said: "It worked for Harold Macmillan and it will work for us. It's also handy to remind the SNP that we are 'One Nation'".
Mr Danczuk had earlier praised his leader's "One Nation" party conference speech two years ago, as a "land grab moment".
But, he added: "It's not a general election winning strapline is it? The public isn't as accepting of such simple messaging any more.
"Indeed, I've come to believe the public is actively turned off by the torturous repetition of political mantras."
Instead, he highlighted the success of outspoken Labour politicians such as Glasgow MP Tom Harris.
"The premium currency that politicians should be looking to trade in these days is authenticity, and that means using stories and experiences to convey the message, not parroting slogans," he said.
Conservative MP Stewart Jackson said:"This vacuous slogan belies Labour's core philosophy of more spending, more borrowing and more taxes."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article