Leading pollsters have warned Keir Starmer that too few Britons know about his more popular policies, as the prime minister tried to relaunch his government just five months after winning power.
Voters are instead much more likely to have heard of the hugely controversial ‘family farm tax’ or Labour’s decision to strip millions of pensioners of their winter fuel payments.
Luke Tryl, executive director at More in Common UK, said: “Far fewer Britons know about the government’s more popular actions, like the protection of the triple lock on pensions and the launch of GB Energy, than their less popular policy measures.”
The warning comes as The Independent can reveal that union leaders have warned Labour that it needs to hire “an Alastair Campbell figure” after a torrid first few months in power.
Ministers have been told that to restore grip they needs a spin doctor of the calibre of Tony Blair’s former communications chief.
Ministers have been battered by a series of rows in what is traditionally seen as a new administration’s ‘honeymoon period’.
They range from criticism over free clothes for ministers to accusations that the Budget broke promises in Labour’s manifesto.
In a bid to change perception, Sir Keir outlined what he said was a ‘Plan for Change’, outlining milestones the government hopes to achieve.
Mr Tryl said the government had had a “challenging start” with “missteps on issues like freebies ... compounded by some unpopular fiscal decisions”.
These include the Inheritance tax raid on farms, means testing the winter fuel allowance and the hike in employer national insurance which critics have warned will harm small businesses.
This has left ministers “on the wrong side of groups that command significant public sympathy,” he said.
In order to turn that around Sir Keir has to explain the budget better, he said, “explaining how Labour’s tax rises and spending cuts are part of a wider package of measures to boost the economy so that public services can be improved rather than individual choices to target specific and popular groups of Britons”.
But he also called on the government to be “more disciplined and effective in communicating their more popular initiatives”.
“Telling a better story of what this government is for and why it is doing what it is doing will be key if Keir Starmer is to turn round the public’s perception of his government. While the public mood has not yet crystallised against Labour, it risks doing so if the public aren’t convinced the Plan for Change is going to leave them better off.”
A senior union source said: “Labour has been told it needs to appoint an Alastair Campbell-type figure to get a grip on what is happening in Downing Street.
“Maybe not the actual Alastair Campbell himself, he seems a little busy with his podcast and selling out the O2. But somebody like that, who understands the media but who also gets the politics of it all. So that this government, which we want to succeed, manages to get its message across and is not hampered by gaffes.”
The Independent understands that some union leaders were incensed by what looked like the mishandling of the end of a long-running train dispute by ministers.
In August train drivers on the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) line announced a series of weekend strikes.
But the news was announced just 48 hours after train drivers were offered a new pay deal, backed by union leaders, as ministers sought to end a separate nationwide dispute.
Labour has shaken up its No 10 team in the wake of Sue Gray’s resignation as Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, with ex-newspaper journalist James Lyons brought in as director of strategic communications.
In recent years Mr Campbell has found success with The Rest Is Politics podcast, which he presents alongside the former Tory leadership candidate Rory Stewart.
He wrote on Instagram of a recent gig: “Selling out the O2 was all a bit weird, but very good fun”.
Mr Campbell declined to comment.
