When Labour won in July 2024, there was a fair amount of goodwill toward the new government. However, there was also scepticism about what the government could deliver. People were worried about the state the Conservatives had left the country in. There were also questions about what Labour really meant by ‘change’, its campaign slogan.
After a fairly sure-footed start, especially on foreign policy, the government made several missteps that cost it dearly. The most significant was the decision to cut the winter fuel allowance, not just for wealthier pensioners, which would have been justifiable, but for middle-income pensioners as well. Labour did this to reassure the markets ahead of its first major budget, to show it could be trusted with public finances. But the move unsettled people and raised doubts about what Labour actually stood for.
At the same time, Labour kept blaming the Conservatives without giving a clear destination of what they were going to do. Confidence fell among businesses and voters alike. When the budget eventually came, it included a substantial increase to employers’ National Insurance contributions. Businesses felt this cut against everything Labour had promised about growth and wealth creation.
Since then, we’ve seen a disappointing economic performance. On top of that, you had the ‘freebies’ scandal: It’s quite normal for MPs to be given tickets to events or dinners or things like that, but they’re required to declare it. When this all came out, the public was quite taken aback. Labour failed to get a grip on that quickly. In opposition, they had successfully repositioned the party as fighting for ordinary working people. In government, their decisions and handling of these issues made it feel like they’d lost sight of that.
