The mood at Labour conference turned from cautiously confident to gleeful as shadow ministers toured the drinks receptions last night.
A YouGov poll dropped at around 10 pm giving the party a thumping 17-point lead – the biggest for 20 years.
Of course, it is only one poll, and Sir Keir Starmer’s top team insists they are not complacent about the need to win back people’s trust.
But some could not resist letting the excitement show, one former minister saying “it feels like the mid-90s” when Tony Blair was two years away from a landslide.
Many other Labour figures are keenly aware that a lot could happen before the next election in two years’ time, but there is a palpable sense that Labour scent power.
Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, told the conference that a Labour government “is on its way”.
Today, Wes Streeting told Sky News that his message to mortgage lenders and worried homeowners is that “the cavalry is coming” – in the shape of a Labour government – at the next election.
There are big questions about how Labour will finance its plans, given they have pledged to keep the income tax cut announced by Kwasi Kwarteng despite a bleak economic outlook.
Today’s speech cannot promise huge investments in public services. The message is that Labour is the party of “sound money”, while the Conservatives have squandered that reputation – as the turmoil in the financial markets has demonstrated.
Also buoying the party is the number of businesses attending and sponsoring events.
Shadow ministers say they have been inundated with requests for meeting with corporations keen to hear about Labour’s plans.
After months of hammering Boris Johnson on his personal integrity, Labour insiders say Sir Keir “relishes” the fight on the economy.
They say he needs to do three things – show the party has changed, interrogate the government’s record, and lay out the country he wants to build.
If his speech is to hit the mark today, voters will need to believe there is progress on all those fronts in the months ahead.
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Source: Sky news