Labour’s leading lights on a happier day in 2024 (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images) Labour’s electoral results compel a course correction. That much is not in doubt. But before anyone commissions more opinion polling on new policies in lieu of principles, it’s time to take stock. We must resist the temptating notion that slashing spending, like throwing good money after bad, solves anything and start with why taxpayer cash matters at all. To get out of this doom loop, Labour needs to restore public confidence that we can apply our progressive values to being value for money. The tendency to panic promise that has characterised the current administration has not just underpinned the loss of hundreds of councillors. It has also limited our capacity to change anything. It’s a bad habit Labour needs to break to show we understand how we got to the wrong answers in the first place.…