Labour must be 'credible' on cuts

So slowly the penny is dropping in the Labour Party.

Labour must have "genuine credibility" on the economy and would accept £5bn of defence cuts, shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy has said.

He told the Guardian he accepted the scrapping of Nimrod spy planes, savings in the Trident programme and cuts to civilian allowances.
Mr Murphy said it was "compulsory" that the party be "credible" on defence spending - rather than "populist".

This follows on from comments made, earlier this week, from Lord Glasman, an adviser to Ed Miliband.

Writing in the leftist New Statesman he said

Old faces from the Brown era still dominate the shadow cabinet and they seem stuck in defending Labour's record in all the wrong ways – we didn't spend too much money, we'll cut less fast and less far, but we can't tell you how."
In a caustic assessment, he says: "Labour is apparently pursuing a sectional agenda based on the idea that disaffected Liberal Democrats and public-sector employees will give Labour a majority next time round. But we have not won, and show no signs of winning, the economic argument. We have not articulated a constructive alternative capable of recognising our weaknesses in government and taking the argument to the coalition. We show no relish for reconfiguring the relationship between the state, the market and society. The world is on the turn, yet we do not seem equal to the challenge."

A health warning though.

This Blog does not advise you to hold your breath waiting for either of the two Eds - Miliband and Balls (could I call them Miliballs?) -  to come out and admit that the policy they have been pushing is now not only lacking in credibility but is being publicly said to be so by those at the heart of their own party

The Guardian reports:

Labour officials refused to comment on the article, which comes as Miliband's personal poll ratings remain low and tensions over political strategy on the economy, welfare and spending are surfacing.

On Twitter, however, the former deputy prime minister John Prescott said: "Glasman. You know sod all about politics, economic policy, Labour or solidarity. Bugger off and go 'organise' some communities!"

 I can't help but think that Glasman has to be right, if only because he upsets the erudite Prescott!