Alex Massie Alex Massie

If Ed Miliband is to become Prime Minister he needs more than gimmicks

Ed Miliband, everyone seems to agree, has had a good few weeks, even months. Everyone agrees on this even though Labour’s position in the polls is not significantly better now than it was before the summer.

The Labour leader, and again on this everyone seems to agree, has been setting the agenda. David Cameron has been forced to respond to whatever Miliband has been talking about. From Syria to the Daily Mail to the cost of living it’s been the leader of the opposition who has seized the initiative. As a result, Miliband looks stronger; Cameron somewhat diminished.

That, at least, is the conventional wisdom and, as is so often the case, the conventional wisdom is not wholly nonsense. It has certainly become more difficult to make stick the charge that Miliband is a hopeless wet fish.

Nevertheless there is a difference between getting a good press and convincing the public. A considerable difference, in fact. The press loves bandwagons and is constantly distracted by the latest, new, exciting, shiny thing. The public takes longer to be persuaded, if indeed it can be persuaded at all.

So I wonder if Miliband’s summer has been quite as successful as many people would have you think. Labour List have published the results of a Survation poll on the “cost of living crisis”. One question, above all, produced some interesting results:

Which of the following policies do you think will do more to help consumers with the cost of their energy bills?

Forcing companies to automatically put consumers on the cheapest deal they have available, and reduce the number of different deals they have on offer to simplify things for consumers.

or:

Freezing the cost of energy bills by law for two years, to prevent any further price increases, and reforming the way the energy market operates to increase transparency and competition.

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