IN mid-October Labour’s opinion poll lead was an unfeasibly high 39 per cent and is now averaging about half of that level. 

This shows that there should be no grounds for complacency about the outcome of the next general election. Even so, the Tories still have a mountain to climb.

Almost unprecedentedly, the Tories have not reacted by trying to win over the electorate. On the contrary, they seem to have taken the view that the next election is already lost (which also explains why so many rats are jumping from their parliamentary ship).

Instead, they seem intent on using this period until the final date for a general election in December 2024 as an opportunity to pursue an extreme right-wing agenda that aims to permanently transform this country for the worse.

The latest threat comes in the form of plans to outlaw strikes. This has long been a Tory goal, which was also threatened by Boris Johnson. Liz Truss pledged to introduce these measures in her first 30 days. The reason it has been left to Sunak and company to try to force this through is precisely because Johnson and Truss blew up the Tories’ electoral prospects. The clear implication is that this government thinks it has nothing to lose.

Of course, their agenda is not confined to banning strikes, or making them virtually impossible. This is just their latest attack. 

Pointlessly opening coal mines shows they have abandoned any pretence they are trying to meet climate goals. The same is true of their abandoned target on building affordable homes. Their response to their own devastation of the NHS is more privatisation. None of these are vote-winners and the Tories know it.

A similar approach is evident in their repeated attack on migrants and refugees, all while actively encouraging cheaper labour from overseas. Suella Braverman has abandoned any pretence that this government stands for human rights and international law, despite James Cleverly lecturing other countries on these topics. 

But the vile campaign against refugees is dog-whistle racism. It is also designed to shore up the most reactionary element of the Tory base, and offer a distraction from the economic hardships the Tories themselves have imposed. All opponents of the Tories have every interest in opposing this part of their agenda too.

Above all, though, it is the depth of the attack on living standards being mounted by this government which is the most important in drawing the mass of the population into political opposition. Neither the attack nor the opposition is likely to go away anytime soon.

On the contrary. When most governments are seeking re-election they can usually find some excuse to loosen the purse-strings a bit, as Cameron and Osborne did as a one-off in 2014. In extremis, hoping to avoid being booted out, governments at least offer the equivalent of jam tomorrow. 

But this government has already threatened that much of the additional austerity they have planned will be implemented after the next election. 

It is now more widely understood that this is an elephant-trap for Labour. If the Labour leadership says it will implement that austerity millions of voters will not turn out for us, narrowing the gap with the Tories and making the first years of the next Labour government excruciating for public services, workers and the poor. 

By contrast, if Labour rejects the austerity but does not propose an alternative it will be accused by Tories and media alike of intending to raise taxes on ordinary people. 

As I have previously argued, the way out of this seeming conundrum is to reject both austerity and these tax increases in favour of genuine windfall taxes, removing the £60 billion in subsidies to the banks and similar amounts to the energy companies and other measures. If Labour is charged with a “soak the rich” policy, we should yes, they can afford it and ordinary people cannot.

Unfortunately, on further NHS privatisation, nurses’ pay, demonising Albanian refugees and on repealing anti-trade union law the Labour front bench seems happy to dance to the Tory tune.

Thankfully, the issues at stake for the future of this country will not be settled by parliamentary, positioning, arithmetic or debates alone, important as those can be sometimes. 

We are living through the biggest strike wave since the late 1980s. It is estimated 1 million strike days will take place in December. 

The strike wave is broadening as more unions ballot for action or have begun it. It is also  deepening in terms of increased frequency of stoppages and there are more synchronised strikes.

Public opinion on this is quite remarkable. Polling (for YouGov) shows a clear majority in favour of the strikes, despite also being inconvenienced by them. This is because separate polling (LBC radio) shows an overwhelming majority blame the government or management for the strikes. Just one in six polled blamed unions.

These are important indicators of the general mood, but opinion polls by themselves change nothing. If they determined politics these Tories would have gone long ago. Our job as socialists is to change society, not just people’s minds. 

The most important development on that front is that the unions have burst into life after long years of their members having their noses ground into the dirt. 

Big business and capital is worried. Their project is the Americanisation of our economy and our society. They are worried that this central project of driving down living standards, de-unionisation, deregulation and privatisation is meeting strong resistance. 

Sharp Tory disagreements are about timing and tactics, not about strategic aim. The key issue for the labour movement is to keep up the momentum in opposing this government and to develop a rounded and coherent alternative to their policies.

Stopping these Tory attacks will be a huge fight. And we need to oppose them now, otherwise our inheritance will simply be scorched earth. We need determination, we need the ideas to win, and we need unity around them. 

Not unity with the Tories or Tory policies. Unity of our movement on the picket line, on the demos, at meetings and, yes, in Parliament. Workers and the poor are under huge assault. Our movement must not let them down. 

Diane Abbott is Labour MP for Hackney North & Stoke Newington.