Labour has emerged from this summer’s local elections with what appears to be a commanding lead, but this is the time in the electoral cycle when voters go to the polls in local elections to send a message to the government. Next year’s General Election is not a foregone conclusion.

We are at an inflexion point. Over the next year you can expect to see the gap in the polls between Conservative and Labour narrowing significantly. Do not be surprised to find that Rishi Sunak can – after all the chaos of the Covid years – provide Britain with the smack of competent government. Technocrats like Rishi do eventually reap the benefits of getting stuck into the detail; gradual improvements in living standards will take place. Public expectations are set so low that they may even be noticed. The Conservatives still have a mountain to climb; but if they can hold the NHS steady, stop the gangs running small boats across the channel, bring down inflation and grow the economy, all is not lost.

Attention now turns to what a Labour government might do, and this offers the Conservatives yet more hope. Sir Keir can no longer present himself as the high minded, dull, competent roundhead alternative to a cavalier Prime Minister. Against Rishi, he is on a quest for policies which look and sound different.

From the rail nationalisation to the imposition of VAT on school fees, from building on the green belt to creating a legal right to work from home, Sir Keir is marking out new policy territory. But while these policies are designed to appeal to voters who want better public services, housing, and more control over their working lives, they are not policies that I hear people yearning for in focus groups. These are the policies of Labour’s left wing.