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As Ed Miliband prepares to open a party conference dedicated to highlighting the crisis in living standards, Labour faces mixed polling showing it is the party most blamed for the fall in living standards, but also the party deemed to have the best policies to tackle the crisis.
The polling has been conducted by YouGov for the Resolution Foundation, the thinktank that has done much to put living standards at the centre of the national debate.
The polling also shows deep scepticism that any political party can formulate policies to boost living standards, probably reflecting a wider cynicism about politics and the power of national governments confronting global forces. The findings suggest Labour is not on to a surefire winner by campaigning on living standards. But to the extent that any party is thought to have policy solutions to the decline in earnings, Labour comes off best – ahead in seven out of eight of the policy areas.
Labour says its conference will be dedicated entirely to the theme of living standards, and promises to come up with practical solutions through the conference week to show it has the answers to falling earnings.
George Osborne has dismissed Labour's approach, saying a party complaining that prices are high does not constitute an economic policy.
The switch to living standards, as opposed to the lack of growth, has been long planned by the Labour leadership, which expected the recession to end earlier than it has.
Asked by YouGov who is mainly to blame for the fall in living standards over the last few years, 30% blame Labour, compared with 16% who blame the Conservatives alone and 9% who blame the coalition.
All parties are blamed by 19%, with only 1% mostly blaming the Liberal Democrats and 16% blaming factors beyond the control of any political party.
A clear majority of Conservative supporters blame Labour (66%) while relatively few blame all main parties (7%). Just over half of Labour supporters blame the Conservatives or the coalition (55%) while 21% say all main parties are to blame.
There is also a strong divide over whether governments can ease the crisis – 41% say it is very hard for governments to secure higher living standards and the best governments can do is to secure a stable economic and business environment. The same proportion, 41%, say it is possible for government policies to secure steadily rising living standards.
One of the themes of the Labour conference, and Ed Miliband's speech, will be to argue "Britain can be better" – an effort to lift the fatalism, and promote some optimism about the possibilities for the country. Lib Dem and Tory supporters do not think governments can secure better living standards, but Labour supporters retain a faith in the efficacy of government.
Credit: Guardian graphics
A Labour majority government is narrowly ahead of a Conservative majority government as best placed in a string of living-standards-related battleground issues, including: the best party to raise low pay without damaging the overall economy (29%); to make it easier for people to move into work and keep household bills as low as possible (20%); to increase the amount of affordable housing in Britain (24%); deliver a system of affordable and high-quality childcare (22%); and ensure the right level of welfare benefits for people who genuinely need help (24%). A majority Conservative government is ahead on easing pressure on low- and middle-income households by reducing taxes.
Peter Kellner, president of YouGov, said: "The public are inclined to share the blame across the parties for the big squeeze on living standards, though they still point the finger at Labour more than anyone else. That's not entirely surprising given wider attitudes to recession, the deficit and spending. It's also noticeable that Conservative supporters are much more likely to blame Labour, while Labour supporters are more likely to share blame among the parties."
Gavin Kelly, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, said: "It's clear that living standards will dominate the 2015 election – what happens to wages, inflation and disposable income will matter at least as much as any changes to GDP figures. There will of course be a blame game about who is most responsible for the big squeeze that has dominated this parliament. But the key question is whether any of the parties can convince a deeply sceptical public that they have credible policies that will make a significant difference to their financial situation over the next five years."
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