Will Labour fairness trump Conservative cuts?

Fairness is a word that has long ceased to hold any cogent meaning within political discouse, but it has again been employed by the Labour party as the centrepiece of Ed Miliband's attack on irresponsible capitalism. The key difference with the fairness that Miliband is espousing, in contrast to his political predecessors, is a fairness that is aimed at alleviating the cause rather than the symptoms of unfairness. I think Ed has pulled a rather clever trick here, but time will tell if it resonates with the public.

In a speech to the commons 4 days ago, Jim Murphy urged Labour to present a 'credible' case on its plans to reduce the deficit. He was playing on the perception, encouraged by Lord Glasman, that the the party had been rather opaque in its economic arguments since the coaltion took power. The difficulty with Murphy's comment is that he was accurately reflecting the opinion shared by the majority of the population, a population that has demonstrably grown cold towards the virtues of the welfare state, and a population that has so far been won over by the Tory argument for cuts. Miliband's response to this challenge was always going to be critical. Side with Murphy, and you risk alienating core voters in an attempt to outflank the government on the right, stand against and you risk being unelectable.

What he chose to do instead was plot a course that would potentially appeal to both factions. If there is one thing that unites forces on the left and right of the political spectrum at the moment it is revulsion at corporate greed, and the perception that there are a few unscrupulous souls ruining the fun for the rest of us. By playing to this crowd Ed may well have won back a number of votes in that cherished middle ground, whilst retaining his traditional support. Rather than tackle inequality through spending, he has undertaken the highly ambitious target of reforming the way that business and capitalism functions. By addressing the source of the problem, he hopes to alleviate the pollution further downstream. In doing so, he has admitted the need for cuts, which some on the right may perceive as a victory, but he has also positioned Labour in the driving seat of economic reform and Cameron is already trying to play catch up.

The difficulty now lies in convincing the electorate that Labour cuts will be better than Tory cuts, and that economic reform isn't a byword for the return of Old Labour. If Cameron and co are able to make the 'anti-business' label stick, Ed may well be worse off than before.