In praise of Ed

ED Miliband has had a shaky start as Labour leader. His personal ratings significantly lag those of his main party rivals and he leads a party that during desperate economic times has failed to take a decisive lead over a government now approaching mid-term.

There is one significant reason why Labour have found the going tougher than many might have predicted and recently Mr Miliband has shown the courage to try to address it.

It relates to what is and will remain the biggest chip in the political game right up to the General Election — the economy.

When any party loses office it goes through a regenerative cycle. Firstly, it denies that it did anything wrong last time around, then it accepts that the electorate might have a point, finally it starts the political repositioning that may result in re-election.

This is a painful journey and from where Labour is now it is one that the party needs to travel in short order if it is to avoid writing off the next election and to see itself out of power for a decade or more.

Ed's recent announcement that Labour will no longer call for the reversal of the Coalition Government's cuts and will specifically support the Government's freezing of public sector pay is a milestone in that journey.

The electorate do not believe that there is any real alternative to biting the deficit reduction bullet and instinctively see through any opposition that simply takes the soft path of opposing every cut whilst offering no sufficiently clear alternative.

Ed's move now sees Labour able to work to restore its economic credibility whilst working up an alternative narrative on how the economy might be developed. If he holds his course — he will at least have earned a hearing.