THREAD: Was Labour’s 2019 manifesto popular?
This is an important question as Keir has distanced himself from it (and reverted to praising 2017) whilst RLB is seen as the continuity 2019 candidate.
On the face of it the policies were popular as @YouGov found:
This is an important question as Keir has distanced himself from it (and reverted to praising 2017) whilst RLB is seen as the continuity 2019 candidate.
On the face of it the policies were popular as @YouGov found:
But at the same time Corbyn was deeply unpopular and the main reason given by voters for abandoning Labour (see Opinium research below).
The conclusion some have drawn is that replacing the leader without changing any of the policies will make Labour electable again.
The conclusion some have drawn is that replacing the leader without changing any of the policies will make Labour electable again.
But presenting policies individually to respondents is like asking if they like certain foods. To which the answer might be yes, but not all at the same time and with a large cost bill attached. In the YouGov poll a majority also believed that Labour’s promises were unaffordable.
Interestingly the questions on the individual policies did not mention they were *Labour* ideas. A different @Deltapoll survey asked whether “Labour’s policies” were too extreme, and nearly half thought they were.
So perceptions of *Labour* seem to matter. When Miliband proposed a Living Wage and energy price caps he was denounced as returning to “70s SOCIALISM” by the right-wing press. When the Tories implemented the *same* policies, they were considered reasonable and successful ideas.
Labour has to struggle against the default perception in sections of the media that our policies are potentially dangerous but the Tories don’t get the same treatment. It's unfair, but it’s not going to change before GE2024. We have to counter it, not endlessly complain about it.
Because perceptions of extremism matter. This fascinating study shows that voters’ belief that a party is extreme, drives perceptions that they are also incompetent – so Labour went into GE2019 in the middle of a perfect storm.
washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/…
washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/…
Does this mean that Labour cannot put forward radical policies? No, I don’t think so. There are some fundamental problems in the UK which won’t be dealt with by superficial measures of the kind the Tories may try to implement.
However, when we propose radical changes we should (1) have fewer headline policies and properly lay the groundwork with the public as to why those policies are reasonable, necessary and credible and get across that they are *not* extreme or divisive.
And (2) we need a leader who exudes competence and professionalism because *we know* they will come under sustained attack from the media like every other Labour leader before them. (Maybe someone with recent experience of leading a huge high profile organisation?🤔)
Lots of people are frightened of change, particularly the older voters who we lost in droves to the Tories. If we want to drive real change we have to accept that perception matters, competence matters and that not everyone welcomes massive disruption.
If we can make the radical seem reasonable and deliverable (because often it's both of those things) then Labour can put itself back in contention for GE2024.
