Remember What The Blessed Margaret Said – Sooner Or Later They Run Out Of Other People’s Money

The Labour government’s abrupt U-turn on winter fuel payments – restoring the benefit to more than three-quarters of pensioners – reveals less a change of heart than a sobering realisation in Westminster: after years of austerity, the public no longer gives politicians the benefit of the doubt.

The irony is hard to miss. Labour set out to prove that “grown-up” economics means difficult decisions – only to find that once trust is lost, voters won’t accept vague promises without tangible results.

Sadly, Labour forgot to staff their front bench with grown ups! 

It turns out many are sceptical that sacrifices will produce better results for society. That’s why ministers are struggling to justify cuts to disability benefits as a way to “fund” public services – or to convince the public that Britain can’t afford to lift the two-child benefit cap even as ministers claim they will reduce child poverty.

It’s not for government to do that, though; it’s for prospective parents to do it, by not having children they can’t afford.

Today’s class politics has been built on culture wars and channelled through identity and belonging. The warning by the former Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane that Nigel Farage is now seen by many as the closest thing Britain has to a “tribune for the working class” should be taken seriously. Citing Reform UK’s surge in the polls, he pointed to a “moral rupture” between voters and mainstream politicians, accusing Labour of fuelling disillusionment through a weak growth strategy and unpopular decisions on benefits.

Those decisions were only unpopular with those dependant on benefits - they were wildly popular with those paying for the benefits! 

Labour’s spending review this week looks like an attempt to reframe its offer around extra cash for frontline services such as health and education. That is welcome. Less so will be the real-terms cuts in unprotected departments that Ms Reeves’s fiscal rules demand to account for such commitments. If this reset is not visible and felt by voters soon, the door swings open wider to Mr Farage and his hard-right politics.

'Hard right politics'? It's pretty soft right politics, at the moment, but keep on with the progressive nonsense, and you'll soon see some real hard right politics!