UK Labour learns you need to do more than attack

The Telegraph reports:

Don’t let it be said that Ed Miliband’s political leadership is useless. It has, in fact, just provided an instructive demonstration in how not to play your strongest electoral card. Over the next three months, his team may well proceed to offer a degree-level course in How to Throw Away an Election – but last week’s introductory module was an education in itself. Having “weaponised” the NHS, Mr Miliband then – choose your metaphor – had it blow up in his face, or shot himself in the foot, or fired a succession of blanks. By the end of the week, Labour’s ace vote-winning issue had become one more grotesquely embarrassing morass of internecine warfare, contradictory statements, ill-thought-out policy and, finally, unconvincing denials that the whole initiative had gone horribly wrong. …

Andy Burnham came spectacularly unstuck in a series of major broadcast interviews because he could not answer the most obvious challenges: why is the NHS in Wales, which is run by Labour on precisely the lines you advocate, performing significantly worse than the NHS in England? Where will you find the extra health funding that you are promising? Revenue from the mansion tax will not provide enough money, and besides you’ll be spending that elsewhere.

Oppositions do need to be able to highlight areas of Government failure. But they also need to have a competent and viable alternative.