Communication Strategy Without a Centre of Gravity - Why the Government's messaging isn’t landing – and what it’s missing

Sir Kier Starmer standing a lectern with 'Plan for Change' to either side of him and above him in white letters on a red background. There is a crowd of people to either side of aisle in front of him.

As ever, there are stacks of views on what's going on (and what's going wrong) with Labour's comms strategy. In fact, there are views galore. So, before I start, I want to be clear. This isn't a political critique of the Labour or Conservatives. Quite the opposite.

Lots of Noise, Little Narrative

It's May 2025, ten months into a Labour government — the first in 14 years. Whilst we’re not quite in honeymoon territory, voters should still be feeling some affection for the party they handed a thumping majority. And to be fair, Labour *is* doing things:

• NHS waiting lists are down

• Three trade deals signed in the last month

• Net migration falling

Yet these successes — the last of which, admittedly, is not particularly theirs to claim — are not cutting through. The local elections revealed a clear level of public discontent with Labour.

Three Trade Deals. No Bounce. Why?

Take the past few weeks: three trade deals announced almost back-to-back, probably worth around £15 billion to the UK economy.

It's a simple fact that in 3 weeks Labour have signed more trade deals than the last government managed in 14 years. That's quite a feat.

Usually, a government could stretch the media coverage of *one* of these for at least a week. Three in a row should have created real momentum for Labour — but it didn’t. Why not?

Firstly, blaming the media isn’t enough. Yes, it's not inaccurate to say that certain sections of the press clearly lean rightwards and are not giving Labour space. But that’s not the complete picture.

All Defence, No Vision

This Labour government is discovering a hard truth: if your communications strategy is all defence and no vision, people notice.

The government came in promising stability, credibility, and a new chapter after years of political turbulence. But less than a year in, the public mood is as flat as a pancake. Not furious, exactly — just unconvinced. Possibly even a little bored. And certainly unpersuaded by Labour's performance so far.

The messaging coming out of Whitehall feels reactive — heavy on managing risk, light on inspiring confidence. There’s a lot of 'explaining' and 'clarifying', but not much in the way of storytelling. And as any comms person, marketer, brand bod or public affairs hack will tell you, that’s a serious problem.

People Want to Believe in Something

At its heart, communication is about people. Voters want more than just figures — they want to feel something.

This government was elected on the promise of no return to austerity — they also gave a clear, hopeful message people could get behind - things would be better under Labour. It was also elected to fix the country. In electing them, voters tacitly acknowledged the state of the nation, they don't need the message hammering home.

Policies like scrapping the Winter Fuel Allowance for better-off pensioners may have had internal logic, but the sales pitch — to the nation and to Labour’s own backbenches — was non-existent and contradicted Labour's platform and brand. Add to that recent moves to reduce support for disabled people — particularly via reforms to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) — and the mood shifts from uncertain to uneasy.

And for a Labour government in particular, that’s dangerous.

Core Values

Here's my point, brand matters, both in and out of politics. Ask a random member of the public to describe what Labour are about and they'd probably mention things like the NHS, social security, and schools. A brand is as much about what people feel as what they see and hear - they go hand in hand. Brand matters.

What people are seeing and experiencing contradicts public expectations — not just of what Labour said in its manifesto: no return to austerity, positive change, fixing stuff, but something more fundamental, their brand.

The Labour brand has always stood for fairness, equality, support for the vulnerable. A comms and political strategy which rests heavily on reactive economic realism but light on social compassion leaves the government looking pragmatic — but not rooted in its principles.

The Conservatives have ended up in the same place. Once known as the party of business and economic competence, their last 14 years in government — particularly from Boris Johnson’s tenure onwards — undermined those core pillars of the Tory brand.

The list of UK household brands that experienced similar downward trajectories are too numerous to list, but Tesco in the 2010s and Debenhams in the last decade are two worthy of note. One successfully turned it around, the other didn't (although Debenhams is making a digital comeback).

The local election results have demonstrated that these unforced errors and significant brand movements have a huge impact on both parties. And not simple as a traditional protest vote- Reform took more council seats than both the parties of government and opposition combined.

People Fill the Gaps

There’s a simple comms truth here: if people can’t follow the thread, and the brand is unanchored - they’ll write their own story. And right now, the story being written isn’t one Labour or the Tories would choose.

Looking at the government particularly, it isn’t about whether Labour’s policies are right or wrong — it’s about the comms reality those policies have created. The contradiction in brand values makes the brand less reliable in people's perceptions, combine that with the absence of a positive comms strategy and these stories then drive narrative. It's a spiral that No.10 need to tackle with pace.

Last week saw the Prime Minister begin a course correction. But the government must now speak clearly and confidently about its direction and its values — not just in policy, but in comms strategy and in tone.

Because at the moment, we’re hearing what’s being cut. It’s time to remind us what’s being built.

Need help crafting strategy that lands?

At Summit Communications, we help leaders, charities, companies, and policy shapers turn complexity into clarity.

Whether you’re launching a product, landing a policy, navigating public scrutiny, leading through crisis, facing transformation, or just trying to be heard — we help you find the right message and make it matter.

If your strategy needs sharper storytelling, we should talk. Drop us a DM or book a 30 minute strategy introduction call via www.summitcommunications.co.uk/book-online

#StrategicComms #GovComms #PoliticalComms #DisabilityRights #PublicAffairs #PR #Communications #NarrativeStrategy #LabourParty #Leadership #MessagingMatters #SpeedyBlog