Labour draws level with the Tories

Leaderless Labour is neck and neck with the Tories for the first time in more than two years, according to the Reuters/IPSOS Mori monthly poll. This follows the trend that Pete observed a couple of days ago, and surely Anthony Wells’ prediction will come to pass: Labour will overtake the Tories.

However, these grim figures are not terminal. Theoretically, this parliament has another four and half years to run. More than 60 percent of the population believe cuts are necessary, but 75 percent contest that retrenchment must come this fast. That’s healthy scepticism rather than mass-revulsion. Providing the coalition holds, time is on its side. The longer Labour opposes measures that the majority recognise as necessary, the more credible the government becomes.

But these results key into this week’s predominant theme: the coalition must make a clearer case for arresting Britain’s decline now. David Cameron and Nick Clegg have been voluble; but the message is yet to cut through.