Have Labour just made themselves unelectable?

Ed Balls has left me no alternative but to recant everything I wrote in my last post about sensible Labour strategy. After a careful speech from Ed Miliband, in which he cautiously accepted the need for cuts whilst being very careful not to say exactly which cuts, Ed Balls has come out with all the subtlety of a randy gorilla and suggested that Labour would more or less leave all Tory cuts in place if they got to power in 2015. Am I crazy, or has this effectively destroyed whatever strategy the party has been following since the demise of Gordon Brown? Has it not just thrown itself into the same ideological cesspit as the Tories and their Lib Dem allies?

This is barefaced opportunism at its worst. I say at its worst because I don't believe it will actually pay off for the party electorally. Labour's line prior to Balls announcement, no matter how murky, was at least a genuine alternative to the coaltions slash and burn approach to public spending. Labour didn't need to win the economic argument at this point, they merely had to suggest something different, and attacking the governmnt for cutting too far and too fast was showing dividends. Rising unemployment, combined with inflation and zero growth, does not make for popular administrations, and Labour should have played on this and stuck to their guns.

I understood, though grew concerned, when  Miliband came out and said that Labour would have to accept some Tory cuts, and in time he would have had to identify which cuts those would be. I appluaded him for his attacks on irresponsible capitalism, and Cameron has been sufficiently alarmed by this manouevre to try and follow suit. Both of these strategies could have helped to boost Labour's credentials. Instead, Balls has basically conceded the economic fight to the Tories. By accepting Tory cuts, Labour  has abandoned those amongst the electorate who will be hardest hit in the coming years. There is now no major party in the UK that represents the interests of the most vulnerable people in our society (with the honourable exception of the Greens).

The worst thing about this from a Labour perspective, however, is that the party may well have just made themselves unelectable. Traditional Labour supporters must have been appalled by this announcement, and, whilst it may win back some in the centre, I would say the likely result will be a boost to smaller parties and independents as Labour voters abandon the party to seek a genuine alternative. What is left to distinguish Labour from the Conservatives?