At the Conservative conference last week, both David Cameron and George Osborne used their speeches to deride Ed Miliband’s focus on the “cost-of-living crisis” on the grounds that it was a distraction from the primary task of ‘fixing’ the economy. But while doing so, the Tories have also recognised that the Labour leader is onto something.
The day after Cameron’s speech it was briefed that the party would soon launch a “blitz” on the cost of living and that Osborne had “identified water bills, rail fares and bank fees as areas where the government can act to help with household bills.” After previously dismissing Miliband’s proposed energy price freeze as “a gimmick”, Cameron notably acknowledged on ITV’s The Agenda that the Labour leader had “struck a chord” with the public.
With real incomes not expected to rise until 2015 and not expected to return to their pre-crash levels until 2023, Tory MPs are rightly warning their leadership not to dismiss the living standards crisis as a temporary ailment that will pass now growth has returned. A recent ComRes survey found that voters think the Tories are more likely to maintain economic growth (42-33%) and to keep public spending under control (47-28%), but also that they believe their own family would be better off under Labour (41-31%). If one party takes a decisive advantage before 2015, it is likely to be that which wins the trust of the public on both issues.
The Tory fightback has begun today with the announcement that rail fare increases will be capped at 6%, with companies barred from raising individual fares by more than 2% above RPI inflation, rather than the current limit of 5% (provided that the average rise is 1% above inflation). Ministers say that the move could save commuters around £20 a month but with fares still set to rise above inflation for the eleventh year in a row (while average earnings fall for the sixth year in a row), it’s rather small beer. Labour has been able to hit back by pointing out that the move doesn’t go as far as its pledge to limit all fare increases to 1% above inflation and former transport secretary Andrew Adonis has noted that the cap is “less tight” than the one he imposed in 2009-10.
The Tories are promising “week by week” announcements in the run-up to the Autumn Statement but they’ll need to do better than this to wrest the initiative back from Miliband.
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