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  1. Politics
28 September 2009

Labour’s tougher line on bonuses

Party steps up the rhetoric but will it win back voters?

By George Eaton

From the Labour conference

Alistair Darling’s speech this afternoon was another example of the harsher line Labour ministers have taken on bank bonuses at the conference.

He promised that the new “clawback” system planned by the government would end the “reckless culture that puts short-term profits over long-term success”. He also said: “It will mean an end to automatic bank bonuses year after year. It will mean an end to immediate payouts for top management.”

But will it help lift Labour’s dismal poll ratings? Today’s ComRes poll for the Independent put the party level with the Lib Dems on 23 per cent, with the Tories on 38 per cent. Even allowing for the Lib Dems’ standard post-conference bounce this is a remarkably low level of support.

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Labour’s best hope probably does lie in a populist stance on bonuses and extravagant salaries, with more measures such as the popular 50p income-tax rate. The test will be whether the party offers sufficiently distinct policies from the Tories.

I’d expect David Cameron and George Osborne to promise similarly tough action on bonuses in Manchester next week. The election success of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, who won by tacking to the left on bonuses and pay, is likely to concentrate Conservative minds.

I’m off to hear Ed Miliband in conversation with Steve Richards this afternoon, but it’s his brother who’s been garnering favourable headlines today.

The ComRes poll I mentioned earlier found that Labour would perform better at the next election under David Miliband than any other alternative leader, with the exception of Jack Straw. Under either of the two, Labour would be the largest party in a hung parliament, opening the way for a coalition with the Lib Dems.

Miliband is certainly enjoying a better conference than last year. His address at last night’s New Statesman party was confident, amusing and self-deprecating. He made light of the 2008 “banana incident” by quipping about the multiple photo opportunities this year’s crop of fresh fruit stalls provides.

But those who suggest Miliband represents Labour’s future forget that the trade unions continue to hold a third of the votes in Labour’s electoral college. Many trade unionists regard the Foreign Secretary as little better than a Tory.

There’s been less discussion of Straw’s impressive performance in the poll, although in the past he’s been spoken of as a possible caretaker leader. If Labour’s defeat next year is as severe as some predict, its younger figures may wish to keep their powder dry until the party has regained ground.

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