Judging by the uproar that greeted Harriet Harman’s decision to support limiting future tax credit claims to just two children, Labour almost looks as though it is in a worse position as a party than it was in 2010. Labour’s interim leader has plenty of good reasons for picking this policy: she spoke to voters who talked about being unable to afford to have another child and who were aggrieved by the way benefits made this possible for others, she thinks her party lost because it didn’t seem to be listening to such voters, she’s the current leader and there are a lot of welfare cuts going through at present which the party needs to adopt some sort of position on if it is to work as a strong opposition.
Diane Abbott complained on the Today programme that the Labour leader wasn’t basing her policies on ‘the facts’.
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