The Labour Party Conference: Ipsos Briefing Pack

With the new Labour leader being announced on Saturday, and the Labour Party conference kicking off on Sunday, Ipsos has produced a briefing pack exploring the challenges facing the new leader. Using recent Ipsos polling data, it provides an overview of Labour's recent polls ratings, where it went wrong for the party at the election and the challenges and opportunities it faces over the coming months.

The good news for Labour is that their recent poll ratings suggest they are closing the gap with the Conservatives. Further, satisfaction with the government has gradually decreased recently (although the Coalition is still relatively popular compared to previous governments at this point in their first year of office).   Key challenges for the new leader will include competing with a very popular Prime Minister and, crucially, rebuilding public confidence that the party can manage the economy.   However, with the Spending Review in a month's time, there are also opportunities for Labour. The public are increasingly concerned about the speed of future spending cuts, and certain Coalition policies are unpopular. There is also a widening gap between the views of public sector workers and others; there may be scope for Labour to make headway from an unusually poor showing among public sector workers in the 2010 election.

• Download the Ipsos briefing pack for the Labour party conference (PDF)