Beware the switching voter: Why the protest vote is no safe bet for Labour

摘要

Labour's proposal for an energy freeze might have won the contest for the most popular policy proposal of the 2013 party conference season, but neither it nor Ed Miliband's well-received conference speech has had any immediate impact on the party's depressed standing in the polls. The party's average rating in October, 37 per cent, was exactly the same as in August. Consequently Labour's position continues to be weaker than at any time between autumn 2010 and spring 2013. There can now be little doubt that the party has suffered a significant reversal during the last six months.