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Labour ahead of electorate on economy, shadow chancellor says as he promises to set out party's deficit-reduction strategy
Ed Balls has claimed the autumn statement in which the government had to admit that its deficit-reduction plans were badly off course will prove to be a game-changer that will see voters increasingly turn to Labour over the coming months.
The shadow chancellor says he believes his party is ahead of the electorate on the issue, and will reap the benefits in 2012.
In the interview with Fabian Review, Balls also expresses distaste at politicians doing photoshoots with their children – the day after the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, was pictured at home with his family.
Balls said he would "never, ever" allow such images to be used, no matter how "short-term, tactical and tempting" it might be.
A behind-the-scenes debate in underway on why Labour is still behind the Tories when it comes to public opinion of the parties' economic competence, and is still taking the blame for the economic slowdown.
Some are arguing that Labour has to recognise that more needs to be done to explain how it will bring the deficit under control after 2015, rather than emphasising the need for short-term Keynesian measures now to boost the economy.
Balls says in the interview: "You have to prepare the ground so that when the question is asked, you are the answer."
He says that is what Miliband is doing.
"I think it [will prove] a game-changer in people's understanding. When a government [takes office], you really want to believe these new guys are going to make it work. Then suddenly people realise that not only is there lower growth and high unemployment, but that the one thing this government said it would do was to borrow less, and now it is borrowing more. In the next six-to-nine months, people are going to say, 'What's the alternative?' Our opportunity starts now."
Balls says he will begin to set out how his party will cut the deficit some time in the future, but he adds that voters are more concerned about their immediate position.
He also says that he has been to see New Labour figures such as Tony Blair to discuss how to prepare an economic strategy.
Balls also reveals the personal sense of vindication he felt when the chancellor had to admit in the autumn statement how much higher borrowing is going to be in the future.
He writes: "To have a moment when George Osborne had to stand up and say it had gone so wrong, and to have a chance to explain why, was very important for me. I've been waiting to do that response for a year.
"There were times when Cameron and Osborne were fidgeting, and the whole of the Conservative and Lib Dem backbenches were silent because they all know this isn't working. That was the completely best thing about it for me.
"Implementing strategy takes time. It's always difficult when, for a period, you get ahead of where the public are."
The shadow chancellor cites the example of the early years of New Labour in 1993-94, when Blair and Gordon Brown were frustrated that their ideas made no headway, despite the crisis after the Major government's decision to suspend Britain's membership of the European exchange rate mechanism (ERM) and rising taxes.
That backdrop to eventual victory in 1997 has helped persuade Balls that voters will eventually be won over by his argument. "I've said to Ed [Miliband] a number of times: 'You have to be good at opposition. You've got to be the answer to the big question.'
"The best moment he's had so far on doing that politically was phone hacking, though maybe that wasn't a cut-through moment for my constituents in Morley in quite the way it was in Westminster."
He says he is convinced that there are Liberal Democrats that would like to pull the plug on the coalition, but says he is not making a formal offer of a coalition on behalf of his party.
Balls's comments on politicians' children appearing in photoshoots came a day after the Labour leader was seen on the front page of the Daily Mirror cuddling his younger son, Samuel, while his wife, Justine, held two-year-old Daniel.
Further pictures inside showed the parents playing with their children in front of a Christmas tree.
Balls says he and his wife, Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, would not involve their son and two daughters in such publicity.
"The most precious thing for me and us is definitely protecting our children so that they can be who they want to be," he said.
Without mentioning the prime minister or Miliband, the shadow chancellor adds: "However short-term, tactical and tempting it might be to have pictures on the front of a Sunday magazine, we would never, ever do that."
It is not clear whether the interview was carried out before the Mirror article appeared.