Two-edged Sword

Beneficiary statistics are out again and, as usual, Labour attacks the government for expanding numbers. Paula Bennett calmly points out that this is purely secondary to the recession and she is right. The fact that few companies have chosen to move to a nine-day fortnight and few people have taken up the restart program are actually good news as they indicate that the recession is not as bad as first feared. No-one has taken up the government’s offers, not because they have failed, but because they are not required.

I wonder if Labour is not manufacturing a rod for their own back here. Their harping on the beneficiary stats is firmly linking these figures with employment stats in the minds of the public. While they may score a few political points right now, they are going to be hard-pressed when the tide turns and beneficiary numbers drop. Traditionally, Labour has portrayed drops in beneficiary numbers as National “beneficiary bashing”. With the two sets of numbers linked in the public’s mind, it should be simple for National to counteract this with a quick reference to employment figures. Thus Labour’s most potent weapon of election times – fear-mongering about National’s wicked ways with beneficiaries – could be rendered impotent.

I rather think that Labour sometimes forgets that the vast majority of beneficiaries actually want jobs, not benefits. If the employment market is picking up well by election time in 2011, Labour may well find that they have paradoxically given National a opening into their heartland – the low-income worker.

That would be vastly amusing.

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