The UK’s Labour Party elected as its leader Ed Miliband, younger brother of former Foreign Secretary David Miliband in what came as a huge surprise to everyone. We will not talk about issues of Romulus and Remus, but more about the struggle which Miliband (junior) now faces to turn the Labour Party around.

It should not be as monumental a task as it might seem; the UK’s Labour Party has rebounded quite well from the shambles it found itself in after the last election. Cameron’s austerity cuts have already begun to be felt and many who did not vote Labour now believe that they need a dose of socialism (within the context of the centre-left) to bring back the good old days.

And this is where it gets complex. Miliband has already been dubbed ‘Red Ed’, in reference to the support he got from trade unions in the leadership election. But he has moved to quash this moniker, saying that there is no way that the Labour Party can give up the centrist ground. At the same time, Miliband said that Labour needed to move away from Blair’s new Labour context and go back to its ideological roots. And therein lies the problem for all socialist governments and/or opposition parties in Europe.

One only needs to look at the Greek socialists, led by Prime Minister George Papandreou to understand the problem. Historically, socialist parties were the workers’ parties, normally supported by trade unions. If one looks at the 1980s, Europe saw a surge in socialist voting and this was largely down to the huge gains made in tapping the support of the workers. Fast forward to the 1990s and one could see socialist parties (and governments – most notably Tony Blair’s) rebranding themselves as centre-left parties.

The basic philosophy was spend, spend and spend some more. It all revolved on credit and this led to an explosion of social benefits and safety nets. In other words, the government seemed to support affluency, and its returns were partially diverted towards a very generous welfare state. In this way, ‘labour’ parties were able to retain grassroots support, while reeling in voters of a higher income who could easily identify with the party. Ah, those were the good times.

When one moves on to today, we are surrounded by an uncertain economic climate. Coffers are dry and nations are struggling to cut back on national debt and to bring their deficits in line with strict EU criteria. In other words, there’s nothing left for the welfare state and government spending is being cut by millions. Even the UK has significantly chopped its defence budget – if that is not an evident message enough, then we do not know what is.

So where does socialism head from here? Spending for spending’s sake is no longer an option. Mass hand outs as part of the welfare state is no longer an option either. It seems that the more time passes, more blurring of political lines is seen. In truth, the only political message that can be preached Europe-wide is that of austerity in times of crisis. In reality, everyone has to tighten the purse strings and buckle up for some hard work.

Post-2008 financial crisis, the conservatives have it better. Conservatism, by nature involves being cautious, limiting spending and increasing taxes. For socialists it is more difficult. Perhaps in truth, leftist parties might be able to increase spending in areas such as re-training, self-help, SME start-ups and whatnot. But in reality, they too will have to walk down the road of austerity and that is going to where the politically savvy and the naïve will be separated. New labour and old labour no longer work. What is needed is a new message and strategy that fits into the post-financial crisis world.