The 'catchphrase majority'

It was a critical week: The budget was delivered, Libyan rebels regained ground and UK protesters took to the streets. As Ed Miliband accurately argued in his response to the budget, the continuing absence of growth in our economy does stall confidence and keeps that light at the end of the tunnel ever so dim. A 0.5% contraction in the last quarter of 2010 was followed, unwelcomingly, by the figure for growth in 2011 being downgraded from 2.1% to 1.7%. George Osbourne meekly arguing that this allowed more 'scope' for growth between 2012 and 2015. In compensation he also offered  us a 1p cut in fuel duty which many critics have appropriately referred to as a 'drop in the ocean'. So the politicians have had their say. The government claim they have put fuel into the tank of the economy while Ed Miliband argues the budget is 'hurting but not working', but what do the electorate think?

250,000 protesters are a powerful symbol. When all but 300 of them were moderate and peaceful people demonstrating, it was a chance for the alternative way to step forward and claim the moment. What we got instead was another empty slogan from Ed Miliband calling the government to change course and listen to the 'mainstream majority'. I'm not sure how many more labels 'the squeezed middle', 'alarm clock Britain', 'Middle England' or the 'Big Society' (pick your choice) can handle. However, in this case, Ed Miliband's choice of words, when attempting to capture the essense and spirit of all those who disagree with government policy, has been proved wrong. An ICM/Guardian poll shows that Ed Miliband's 'mainstream majority' represents only 35% of people who think the cuts go too far, down 10% from last November. Meanwhile, 28% of people think the government has got the right balance and 29% think they don't go far enough. For now the electorate has cautiously embraced the budget and seemingly backed the coalition agenda.