@Andy_ none so blind...
You've posted a graph exactly proving my point about when Labour's polling started falling off.
Nows not a good time to attack cause people are going to the pubs
and yet the excuse last year was its bad to attack whiles there's a crisis.
If you're someone who thinks there's never a good time to criticise tory governments, maybe you shouldn't be leader of the Labour party IMHO.
Have you just ignored Feb 20 to Jan 21?
The only reason they had slid to a -13 gap is because they got back to level from a -20 gap! They had to improve to get that loss! It is still a massive net gain over the timeframe.
Like I said, since January we've had the best news/ recovery out of pretty much the entirety of the G7, yet you're ignoring this and pinning blame on Starmer. It's people like you who are the main reason why Labour always lose, they get beat by themselves and don't concentrate on the enemy.
If a country is in crisis then there is no need to attack, just let the Tories beat themselves. Now the tories have the best "positive" news they're going to get whilst Starmer is there, this is going to be the peak of their "best", maybe a touch more in summer with the summer buzz people will have. But wait till winter, it will drop again. The vaccine is massive news, it's got 10x more attention than every other story put together, this is all most people care about. Secondly more people care about pubs opening than policies, it's not right, but it is how a lot of people think and they won't change (much). You have to think who this middle lot who get swung are, they're susceptible people, easily led and easily swayed, they're not hard core Tories and they're not 100% labour voters. They're in the middle, they don't take much to shift and this is the same type that DC went after with brexit, and it's how brexit was won. You have to know who to target, which is exactly what Corbyn didn't.
Once the vaccination is forgotten about, furlough stops, the stamp duty comes back, house prices drop, the high streets sinks further and brexit keeps taking punches, this will sink the tories, and more so in the groups which can be swayed.
It's best to appear "supportive" to the government when they're "winning", or definitely not go after them all guns blazing, as those on that side will think Starmer isn't just slinging mud for the sake of it. By holding off, it means when he does start slinging mud after summer, then more of it will stick, as it will have more value. Timing is extremely important, and if you think now is a time when labour could make any sort of gains then you've got a screw loose.