Labour cannot just sit there and criticise the cuts. This is an easy game to play but ultimately it is an unconvincing one. Considering the size of the deficit, the public is already leaning towards the view that cuts are now necessary. Indeed Labour was already promising 44 billion pounds worth of cuts. Labour in opposition cannot simply attack, it must also outline where its 44 billion would have come from. Of course this is difficult while the party is still leaderless, and in opposition the Labour Party should aggressively outline where cuts can be made. Certain Lib-Con policies are probably good targets. The best target is probably the Conservative’s planned marriage tax break which has to be one of the least well thought out policies to gain such importance in the last 20 years. In opposition and with new leadership Labour also has the luxury of making huge changes to its priorities, and would probably be forgiven it it decides to change its mind on ID cards and Trident, provided they spun it right. In doing so they would no doubt eat into Lib Dem support which while remaining surprisingly steady so far will undoubtedly waver as the Honeymoon ends, Labour starts to get its act together and so on.

The budget is popular right now, don’t forget, because this is a new government with high political capital and Labour is leaderless and incapable of providing effective opposition until the leadership debate is over. Seeing as it currently has no real strategy for opposition. If Labour is right and there is a double dip recession Labour will be able to claim vindication for its views and with a decent leader (Not Ed Balls) at the helm it will zoom up the polls. There will be five years until the next election. Labour will not improve overnight, new governments have an extended honeymoon period. Labour needs to oppose, but needs to do so in a constructive manner. The fact that Cameron didn’t win a majority is testament to what happens to parties who simply sit there and say ‘We’re not the government! Vote for us!’

The immediate aftermath was always likely to read positively.

It is only really today that people have spotted the little tricks such as linking pensions to CPI instead of RPI. And Labour’s message that it was already linking pensions to pay is not going to be heard without a leader.

It hurts, but now was exactly the right time to be regressive. No structured opposition, a figleaf Lib Dem backing, and a public not interested in politics so soon after an election.

Was the poll conducted before or after we learnt that the ‘veg & jumper’ scheme was to be rolled out nationally?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1289250/BUDGET-2010-John-Redwood-tells-middle-classes-turn-heating-theyre-feeling-pinch.html

The media has been their usual tory ass licking over the budget. So no surprise that people liked it.

If Labour had put up VAT there would have been an out cry, but that is the power of the tory propaganda media. It was like the expenses scandal. No problem if you are a tory the out rage was always against the Labour politicians. Harman got it dead right when she said that this was a budget of choice not necessity. They have convinced people that this is necessary and many people don’t realise that the rich avoid paying VAT on most things.

By the way, is it not time we should have VAT on Newspapers. Why should these piles of crap be exempt. Lets start a campaign VAT on newspapers.

The immediate aftermath was always likely to read positively.

Quite, you don’t need to be particularly clever to figure out why this is, it’s the same reason we’re in this mess.

Every cunt thinks “Well I’m massively invaluable, this couldn’t possibly affect me, I’m self reliant, a regular Howard Roark.”

Watch what happens when they realise they aren’t delicate little snowflakes and that in fact they can’t be gotten rid of quite easily.

“57% think Osborne made the right decisions for the country as a whole”

But what will the % be when the 25% cuts hit the fan – with the gutting of already inadequate social care, the wipeout of mental health programmes, reductions in child protection budgets, wholesale sacking of teaching staff, classroom assistants, social workers, court staff, the closure of colleges, universities and day-care centres, the decimation of road maintenance, further cuts in benefits at a time of accelerating unemployment, the ratcheting up of public transport fares with the wipeout of rural services, the closure of public libraries and community centres, the cancelling of park maintenance contracts… etc., etc.?

People haven’t even begun to wake up to what 25% cuts actually mean – they will make Thatcher’s so-called ‘assault’ on the public sector (when spending actually increased ) look like a picnic.

People believe what they’re being told almost universally in the mainstream media – that there is no alternative to savage and drastic cuts (even though these will inevitably prove to be counter-productive.

As Chris Dillow has argued – that is an ideologically charged position, not a statement of the inevitable.

@4

is it not time we should have VAT on Newspapers. Why should these piles of crap be exempt.

No no no no! The newspapers are one of the few relatively cheapish pleasures of the day to sad gits like myself, and yes I know they’re basically propoganda but still, I likes the crosswords.

Now, taxing the owners of said newspapers is a different story…

Some gloriously worded questions there. Of course that doesn’t change the general picture. The government is in what passes for its honeymoon (though must admit I’m surprised at the relatively low govt. approval figures) and all the rest of it. Patience is not always a bad thing.

The key finding is the one that shows people blame Labour for the cuts. So long as this is so, the Tories only have to squeeze the Lib Dems to move into landslide territory (perhaps they are already there).

After Kennedy and Hughes persuade a few of their more principled colleagues to abstain (at least) on a few clauses of the Finance Bill, Cameron will be in a position to say to Clegg: “you can’t deliver, I’m going to manage without you” and go to the country in the autumn. He’ll get a 1983-type result.

“57% think Osborne made the right decisions for the country as a whole (23% think he made the wrong decisions), 42% think he made the right decisions for them, 33% the wrong ones.”

Interesting the 15% difference between the right decisions for the country and the voters, which, taking into account some voters (or at least me) would argue that extra taxes (although not bloody VAT)/cutting certain services we use are good for them in the long term, would suggest there is quite an inbuilt minority who will not listen to the cuts are bad line at the moment.

Problem here is that it is difficult to equate this minority with core Conservative voters, who in the sally worldview will not approve of anything that harms them (such as tax rises). So either Conservative supporters are somewhat more thoughtful than given credit for, this minority is the Liberal Democrats or there is a major problem with the line of attacking the cuts as harming people, which is people accept this and support it.