The question Brown must answer if Labour is to recover

Stephen McCabe, the Labour whip who was in the charge of the Crewe and Nantwich campaign, has written an article for Tribune on his experience. The headlines will be grabbed by McCabe’s claim that there was no ‘toff strategy’ but more interesting is how he explains Labour’s defeat.

“Nor could we stem the drift from Labour of the aspirational 25- and 35-plus age groups

“Their message was simple. They were fed up with paying too much tax, too much for fuel and food, and feared for their economic future. Labour couldn’t claim to be on their side. That remains the big challenge. What will we do to win back those ‘switchers’ who feel that Labour has let them down?”
Perhaps, the most encouraging thing for the Tories right now is that Labour doesn’t have a real idea of how to answer this question; it has no story to tell these voters.