Labour frets as voters’ patience runs out on thin budget

Labour insiders are voicing raw fear that time is running out on the public’s patience, warning that if voters are not better off by the next election the party is screwed, as nerves grow that the budget lacks ambition and small everyday fixes risk looking twee. In the days since Labour’s annual conference, party figures have passed round a word cloud from pollsters More in Common showing phrases voters link to Andy Burnham. One word that stood out for strategists was “trying”. At a cabinet away day at Chequers on Monday and a meeting for special advisers on Thursday, the line that the government is doing its best despite a hard economic backdrop ran through the talks.

A government insider said the public think the only person who can reach those levers is the prime minister, and they justifiably ask whether he can do it or not. If not, they will look for an alternative. The party must avoid any sense that events sit outside its control. A party strategist put it plainly: voters do not want hands raised in despair.

They want sleeves rolled up. They do not want helplessness in the face of global pressures. They want answers. Yet many Labour MPs now worry that big promises parked for after the next general election will not meet the hunger for dramatic change now.

Burnham set out a wide vision at conference on social care, the pensions triple lock, the EU and electoral reform. The party faithful liked it and polling pointed to a continued Burnham bounce. Relief at a clear direction has not killed the deeper worry that the clock is against them. Downing Street’s partial reply is a string of everyday fixes on the cost of living.

Overseen by the No 10 policy unit and the Cabinet Office’s cost of living taskforce, departments run incubators for ideas. Measures in the works include rules on car-parking apps and unbranded school uniforms. Strategists say these may miss the front pages but still draw online engagement, with 85 million views across social platforms last week.