Opposition - Labour Party

The Labour Party is suffering from an identity crisis. The party has been struggling since the New Labour project took a hit to its boundless confidence in the 2010 election collapse.

It has been struggling first to rebuild its 'economic credibility' (BBC, 2012), after a recession that began during Gordon Brown's Premiership - a struggle not made any easier by incidents such as Liam Byrne's flippant note - and the party continues to fear getting the blame for the present economic situation.

This has brought the parliamentary leadership head-to-head with the Trade Unions that form such large factions within the party. Indeed the votes of the Unions gave Labour leader Ed the edge over brother David in the party leadership election (Rogers, 2010).

By refusing to commit to reversing cuts when in office (Wintour, 2012), Ed Miliband and Ed Balls have alienated powerful vested interests within their party - and all in the name of regaining credibility.

There are some in the Labour party who believe Messrs Miliband & Balls have fallen into a trap by climbing onto the cuts bandwagon (McClymont & Jackson, 2011). The suggestion is that the cuts rhetoric plays into Tory hands by narrowing the political debate to the matter of 'economic prudence'.

In challenging Tory claims to 'prudence', Ed Miliband is risking a two front war - a public face-off with the Tories and an internal struggle with Unions.

In the face of that upcoming struggle, will Labour be able to reach the next election as the same party that contested the last?

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References:
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+ BBC's 'Miliband defends backing public sector pay freeze'; 15 January 2012.

+ Simon Rogers' 'Labour leadership result: get the full data'; in The Guardian; 26 September 2010.

+ Patrick Wintour's 'Ed Miliband leading Labour to destruction, says union chief'; in The Guardian; 16 January 2012.

+ Gregg McClymont & Ben Jackson's 'How Labour can avoid the Tory trap'; in The Guardian; 28 December 2011.