A million new houses over the next decade. Cannabis to be sold at concerts. A gender-neutral constitution. Sanctions on Israel. A stagnant four per cent in Sunday’s Opinion Poll. And – photos showed – no more than an absolute maximum of about 200 people in the hall to hear her leader’s speech outlining all of these promises. Even if the Labour Party is not technically yet dead, then it might be time for Ivana Bacik to call in the undertakers with their measuring tape, just to get ahead of events.
The million new homes pledge, in particular, is indicative of where Labour is at, mentally: There’s a desperation to their thinking. The political communications idea behind a million new homes is not hard to decipher – you give the voting public a big eye-catching easy to remember idea that they associate with your party, and nobody else. It’s brand-building. You think “a million new homes”, you think “Labour”. It’s Ivana’s answer to Loreal: Because we’re worth it.
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