Following a surprisingly quiet Liberal Democrat conference in Glasgow, the Labour bandwagon rolled into Brighton.
The key theme for the whole conference – and not just the
Labour energy team – has been the rising cost of living.
Shadow business secretary Chuka Umanna delighted the crowd with his attack on the Conservatives. “Costs are rising, wages are falling, yet the government doesn’t seem to care,” he told delegates on Monday.
Shadow chancellor Ed Balls also attacked the coalition for failing to help the “squeezed middle”, but went on to commit a future Labour government to introduce a 2030 decarbonisation target and “unlock billions of pounds in new investment in renewables, nuclear and clean gas and coal technology”.
Balls was also critical of the Conservatives’ handling of the Green Investment Bank, saying it has been unable to borrow the funds it needs, adding a Labour government would give it the “powers it needs to do its job”.
The green agenda is also taking a prominent place at the conference, and it is something the delegates are proud to be pushing – they see it as a weakness in the Conservative Party and one that needs to be exploited.
What has been noticeable has been a lack of criticism directed at the Lib Dems, who at their conference positioned themselves as a “party of government”.
Could it be that, fearing another hung parliament after the general election on 7 May 2015, the party is sowing the seeds of a potential Labour-Lib Dem coalition?