News from Labour Matters

Darling: Labour faces the most difficult year “in a generation”

Alistair Darling has warned that the credit crunch and high oil prices will mean that “the coming 12 months will be the most difficult 12 months the Labour Party has had in a generation” because “people are pissed off with us.”

The Chancellor of the Exchequer also warns that the slowdown will be “more profound and long-lasting” than people had expected, and that the economic troubles faced by Britain and the rest of the world “are arguably the worst they’ve been in 60 years”.

The interview in The Guardian, for all its frankness, sheds little light on what Mr Darling plans to do about it however. Whilst he relates a tale of a recent trip to a petrol station when a man asks “I know it’s to do with oil prices – but what are you going to do about it?” But answers there are none.

Talk of ‘economic recovery plans’ are being downplayed, with Downing Street emphasising that they are working on an “energy package” and a separate “housing package”, but the Chancellor has now raised the stakes. Having demonstrated that he understands the plight of people feeling the pinch, and with such dire predictions for economy’s prospects in the year ahead, there can be no excuse for not being bold in response.

Here however the Chancellor seems to imply that those hoping for a quick fix which will turn Labour’s fortunes around will be disappointed. If the last few months weren’t bad enough, Alistair Darling warns that “this coming 12 months will be the most difficult 12 months the Labour party has had in a generation, quite frankly…We’ve got to rediscover that zeal which won three elections, and that is a huge problem for us at the moment. People are pissed off with us.”

But he goes on to say that “we really have to make our minds up; are we ready to try and persuade this country to support us for another term? Because the next 12 months are critical. It’s still there to play for. But we’ve got a hell of a lot to do. We patently have not been able to get across what we are for, and what we are about.”

Update: Clarifying his remarks, Mr Darling said today: “We are facing a profound economic downturn along with every other country in the world.

“The difference is between us and previous governments, other parties, is that we are taking action to help people – whether it is rescuing Northern Rock, or whether it is helping people to get back into work as they lose their jobs, or tax rebates which are due at the end of next month.”

“I think it is important that Government ministers, and particularly me as Chancellor, level with people. I explained that what is happening to every country in the world, ours included, is that we have a credit crunch the like of which we have not seen for generations.

“We have that at the same time as oil and food prices going up. But I am also clear that the fundamentals of our economy are strong.”

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