Bricks and mortar, continued spending caps and continued reviewing of the benefits system. Contrary to their general depiction, Ed Miliband has presented Labour as realising they cannot continue to be the ‘spending party’ if they were elected, such are the times we’re in. Much to the chagrin of the cost-cutting coalition as well, with Clegg knocking Miliband for apparent hypocrisy, describing Labour of ‘flip-flopping’ the issue - alas the continued degradation of a fine shoe.

The opposition leader said his party would allow councils to negotiate lower rents with landlords to cut housing benefit and free up money for housebuilding; he said people who have paid taxes for longer will get better benefits; and he also criticised the government’s “short-term” approach was failing with the welfare bill costing £20bn more than expected. It seems that the plan is to reverse the general trend of British politics, depicting the Tories as short-term and Labour as the long-term party, though in terms of cuts rather than spending. Whether Miliband’s attempts here work or not, remains to be seen.

There was red-on-red action for Ed Miliband yesterday as Blairite Lord Mandelson came out all-guns-blazing against the opposition leader’s official party policies, leaving the startled Miliband gang reeling in complete disarray.

It seems that my decision in 2012 to renew my Conservative membership was right. The party is headed in the right direction and David Cameron has a good chance of remaining PM at the next General Election due in 2015 if he sticks on his current course and is strong-willed in the image of the late Baroness Thatcher.

UK Ed Miliband’s Labour party finished fourth in the Eastleigh by-election held on February 28^th, Thursday.

The Lib Dems took the first place with a 32% of the vote, followed by the UKIP with 28%, Conservatives 25% and Labour 10%.

Labour’s candidate, John O’Farrell, a 50-year-old author, broadcaster and comedy scriptwriter, was able to secure 4,000 votes only (approx. 10%), as compared to the 2001 and 2005 elections wherein Labour won more than 20% of the vote in Eastleigh.

Miliband was not worried of the outcome saying that the party never came close to winning Eastleigh before, even when it won the 1997 general election saying “I would have preferred to get more votes but this was always a tough fight for Labour”.

However, he realized that the party must exert more effort to reach out and solicit support, particularly on areas where the party’s popularity is weak. He said “It convinced me the need to re-double our efforts to reach out to every part of the country, including areas where Labour has traditionally not been strong and it was hard to do that in a three-week campaign”, as reported by BBC.

Miliband emphasized the merit of his scheme to widen Labour’s appeal to voters, and likewise denied insinuations that the outcome of the by-election will prove detrimental in his plan to make Labour a “One Nation” party.

The result revealed Labour needed a more convincing “nationalist appeal” after its “disastrous” loss in the by-election, as stated by Austin Mitchell, the veteran MP for Great Grimsby since 1977.

Diane Abbott, shadow minister, remarked that she did not see UKIP as a real threat at the next election saying “I don’t think we have anything to fear from UKIP. It is not a problem for Labour”, she told BBC.

On the other hand, Nick Farage, the UKIP leader, predicted even bigger successes in the near future. Although the Lib Dems retained the seat, Diane James, UKIP’s candidate in Eastleigh, got 11,571 votes, over 1,000 more than Conservative Maria Hutchings, BBC reported.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister David Cameron vowed to win people back saying “This is a by-election and a protest and that’s what happens in a by-election”.

UK Labour Party leader Ed Miliband’s steadfast move to rule out a referendum evoked concerns among many of his MPs. Last month, Prime Minister David Cameron committed his party to the re-negotiation of the UK membership in the EU for an in/out referendum, which Miliband opposed saying “I do not support a public vote. My position is NO – we don’t want an in/out referendum”, as reported.

Just nearly two weeks ago, Labour gained a 12-point lead over the Tories in the opinion polls survey conducted by The Guardian/ICM, the biggest lead the party attained since May 2003, amid tensions in the ranks of Labour Party.

Another survey by YouGov poll for The Sun gave Labour a lead of 11-point against the Tories, and likewise revealed that voters favor Labour on the economy issue, at 28 points against Tories’ 27 points.

Edward Michael “Ed” Balls, a 45-year-old Labour Party politician, MP for Morley and Outwood since 2010, and the current Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer since Jan. 20, 2011, in contradiction to Miliband’s comments made a remark recently in a Yorkshire Post interview that Labour would be “stupid” to fight the next election opposing a referendum on the European Union.

He said “As long as we don’t allow ourselves to be caricatured as an anti-referendum party which we’re not, we’ve absolutely not ruled-out a referendum. And if we permit ourselves to be the status quo or anti-referendum party in Europe, then we’ve got a problem”.

Douglas Garven Alexander, a 45-year-old British Labour Party politician, MP for the Paisley and Renfrewshire South constituency and current Shadow Foreign Secretary, said the Europe and Labour’s opposition on a referendum will not be the main issue at the next general election.

Alexander stated that the Conservatives’ failure to deliver economic growth in the country would be the dominant issue and he was not worried Labour’s referendum standing could affect the party in an electoral campaign, in an interview with the Guardian  recently.

Labour Party settled on a compromise position, being opposed in a referendum but not ruling-out support for it in the future. Meanwhile, If Labour Party wins in the 2015 election and forms its own government, it would hold its own referendum, despite Miliband’s recent comments, as predicted by Labour MPs.

Nicholas William Peter Clegg, or simply Nick Clegg, is the incumbent Deputy Prime Minister of UK and likewise the Lord President of the Council since May 11, 2010.

John Vincent Cable or Vince Cable, a Tory Member of Parliament, is the current Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills since May 12, 2012.Both Conservative Party members were recently interviewed on the Murnaghan show on Sky News.

Cable admitted that they have business ties with some members of Labour, and though it could possibly jeopardize his status within his party, he remarked that the public “understands” that the Lib Dems have “got to talk to opposition people”. He said “Of course you’ve got to have a dialogue with the opposition as there are decisions needed to be addressed for the very long- term”.

Cable’s remarks were prompted relevant to queries of “keeping lines of communications open to Labour”, and the fact that senior Lib Dems ministers are in discussion about long-term plans for pensions and business strategy.

Last year, Cable was compelled to expound on his text messages exchanges with Labour leader, Ed Miliband, saying “I’ve been open for a very long time and once in a while I talk to people in rival parties and in my opinion, that’s grown-up politics”.

Cable stated that he is already discussing issues relevant to pensions and industrial strategy with some Labour figures, stating “Talking about industry strategy and pension policy is understood by the public and business sector”.

Meanwhile, the deputy PM, Clegg, stated that the UK will likely witness more coalition in the future, as the prospect of an alliance between Lib Dems and Labour is evident. He said “My own view is that coalition government would be a regular feature in British politics and it is the obligation of all parties concerned to impart to their supporters and the general public its possible implications”.

Clegg also criticized Labour saying “The party will not be taken seriously if they steadfastly deny their own responsibility for the state of the economy of the country”.

Striking the right image is clearly something that opposition leader Ed Miliband struggles with. His party could be in a great position to pounce on the Tory-led coalition tenure of austerity and re-emerging class bitterness. Realising that an important sector of the electorate is the perceived ‘middle England’ which the Tories traditionally hold favour with, Miliband’s desperation to earn Labour favour with the ‘Countryfile’ brigade is beginning to become peculiar.

Last month, Miliband’s pledge for the Labour party to be the ‘one nation’ party was obviously partly a dig at the Tories’ inability to fulfil their preceding use of this slogan since it was first coined over a century ago – even the most ardent Tory will be unable to deny that this current crop of Tories is very divisive. The anti-Tory vitriol that has intensified since Cameron’s election in 2010 – the anti-Eton brigade is increasingly prominent – would, you think, entail a Labour party who would try to stand for something completely different to the Tories.

Campaigner of the year: Ed Miliband