The central argument which will dominate political debates for at least the next parliamentary term is the state of the countries finances, with particular focus on the opposing parties strategic plans for reducing the deficit and rebuilding our ailing economy.
To varying degrees, the major political arguments are being fought on the battles lines of money and financial prudence.
For example, the issue of how much money given to Europe blasted open raw wounds within the Conservative Party on the larger issue of our membership of the European Union and Alex Salmond of the Scottish National Party (SNP) saw the opportunity to claim his parties reason d'être and imply that independence for Scotland might work out better for their country than leaving decisions to the powers that be in Westminster.
The General Election in 2010 was fought on the grounds of the public's perception on which of the two major political parties could be trusted to best resolve and improve our economic problems.
Although Labour had a credible and realistic plan to halve the deficit within four years the public were seduced by David Cameron and George Osborne's bolder plan to eradicate completely the deficit in four years.
Although no-one complained about the generous array of public services offered by local authorities and certainly no Liberal Democrat or Conservative controlled council ever sent money back because it was deemed too generous, a subtle but consistent stealth campaign in the media built an argument over time that Labour were out of control with their spending.
Cameron cashed in this subtle campaign to devastating effect when it became necessary to bail out the banks.
A cruel irony for Labour is that the financial irresponsibility by the bankers caused a financial crisis that allowed the right wing Conservative Party to seize power.
The Tories blamed high spending and financial irresponsibility of the Labour government who quite rightly believed that in a growing economy you spend public money on the public.
Labour were abandoned on the left wing by the Liberal Democrats, who chose to walk the lobbies with the Tories facilitating their implementation of a radical right wing austerity agenda, which will have far reaching consequences for the current younger generation, small businesses, local government and anyone on welfare.
After the coalition government was formed in 2010, Labour retracted internally for a period of time whilst a new leader was elected, losing vital ground to the Conservatives, who lamented Labour's financial irresponsibility and blamed them for the difficult decisions they believed the country had mandated them to make.
In the honeymoon period of new government, where tough decisions are passed off as consequences of the previous doomed government, Labour were too busy electing a new leader to point out that the deficit was a direct consequence of the decision to bail out the banks.
The media chose to ignore that the Conservatives argued against the bailing out of the banks, but the strategy was proven right and world leaders across the globe adopted this strategy.
Allowing the Conservatives to seize the initiative in this argument early in the government makes it difficult to stand up and vehemently defend our record now.
A well-meaning Labour MP trying to give a view even for investment for growth faces howling accusations of being in denial, out of touch and irresponsible when it comes to spending.
The strategy appears to be not to enter in these arguments and face this criticism which on the one hand denies the Tories the easiest stick with which to hit Labour, but it also denies us the counter argument that we did not cause the financial crisis.
In order for Labour to win back the trust of the public they must now be louder in making clear that the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have delivered their austerity package which has delivered a shrinking economy and yet failed to meet their own target of deficit reduction.
The pain has been worthless unless the goal is achieved.
The Chancellor wrapped up the bad news in a cleverly spun statement but did little to mask that his strategies have failed, the economy is shrinking and there remains no plan for growth.
The Prime Minister's red face and personal jibes in Prime Ministers Questions tells a similar story, you know it hurts when he shouts.
Whilst we analyse by-election results and swing percentages, the working class continue to be callously targeted by a government who believes that all people on benefits are career claimants.
I might agree if there was an abundance of vacancies and yet the welfare bill remained stagnant, but we know this is not the case.
The jobs paper in the north east used to have eight hundred jobs in it every Thursday, today sees a total of less than one hundred jobs, much of which are specialised roles which would not be available to first time job hunters.
Labour can expect to increase its majority in seats already held by Labour but this alone does not help achieve the parliamentary majority we need, we must gain seats and to gain seats we need economic credibility.
We have a unique problem that the collapse of the Liberal Democrats perversely gives the Conservatives a better chance at securing a majority in the House of Commons because most middle England seats are Liberal-Tory, where a Liberal Democrat holds the seat.
A collapse of their vote does not necessarily mean a Labour gain.
If Scotland does eventually vote for independence we will lose yet more Labour seats, making a majority even more difficult to achieve.
The money argument holds the key to Westminster.
Labour must offer a coherent and credible plan for improving our finances that the public believes and trusts.
Every week sees more local authority announcements about consultations to cut the services which the public holds dear.
The amount of council tax that is paid by the general public may not have risen, but it certainly has not fallen either.
The general public can see the effects of the cuts, but the Tories are now failing to deliver on their promises that the pain would be worthwhile in terms of recovery.
This presents an opportunity right now to offer a credible alternative to the austerity agenda where the electorate is persuaded that growth does not mean debt.
This cannot be achieved overnight and will take strength of argument and persistent persuasion.
We cannot win the seats we need by being perceived by the public in key swing seats as the best of a bad bunch, the hard work starts now.
Labour cannot ignore the importance of the economic argument, nor will we.
There is an opportunity here to present a credible set of policies will bring to deliver what the country really needs which is true social justice.
Ed Miliband calls it 'one nation', I call it fairness.
Money is not everything, but as the old saying goes, it certainly takes the shine off being poor.
As the country is poorer than in previous years, the public will vote for a party that demonstrates a plan that is credible and likely to succeed.
We must make sure that is us.