WHATEVER the scale of the damage at a local level, the local elections were always going to have a purgative effect at a national level. The gamut of reaction was pre-destined to run from head-in-hands despair about Labour’s chances at the next general election and hope that this may be a cathartic point at which the need for a change of direction shines as the only beacon of hope across a bleak horizon.

Tribune stands firmly in the latter camp. That’s why we believe it is time for Gordon Brown to heed his own words from his first speech as leader and start taking them seriously. He said it was time to “begin the change”. Then he didn’t.

Instead, we had continuity of policy but with a perceived dithering topped by the fiasco of a Labour Government robbing the poorest to dish out tax favours to the better off. Local council services and those they serve will be paying the price for that where Labour’s vote faltered. And the excrescence which spread from the petri-dish home of the British National Party was the result of a rupture with the white, working-class vote which not only feels unrepresented but is presented by Government ministers with anti-immigration arguments which fuel any latent resentment.

While Mr Brown attempts to make the most of what solace he might find in the results – which were declared after Tribune went to press – he cannot avoid one overriding verdict. The time to begin the change is now. Some former members of the Government – and even present ones – will be echoing this call, but with an agenda which looks to the past rather than the future.

The Prime Minister showed signs this week of getting the fact that it is better to own up to having made a mistake – over the 10p tax – than to cling doggedly to the notion that he was right and everyone else was wrong.

Now, with the voters of Crewe and Nantwich among those keenly watching the next step, the Government speedily and convincingly needs to show that it is determined fully to repair the damage. To do that requires not only alleviating the burden placed on the 5.3 million made worse off in Mr Brown’s proxy Budget. It requires a fundamental shift in the balance of taxation away from the free-marketing benefits bestowed on the City and towards the majority of those struggling to make ends meet or find any way, social housing or mortgage, to make a home.

And it requires the embrace of policies which more directly address the concerns of voters with whom the Government has lost touch. In this, Mr Brown has one enormous advantage – his party. It is reported that the Cabinet has had an initial discussion of the legislative programme that will be unveiled at the end of this month and that it is expected to include announcements on “community involvement” in tackling crime, welfare reform, fresh initiatives on drugs and alcohol and a new constitution for the health service.

All of which sounds familiar territory for a Prime Minister whose moral compass appears to set by the imagined perception of the editor and readers of the Daily Mail. Witness this week’s knee-jerk reaction in blocking a “pay” increase for prisoners (money which prison experts say would be used to maintain telephone contact with relatives and thus help reduce the chances of rehabilitation into society).

Mr Brown needs to break out of his mindset and allow himself to be guided a little by the party which he leads, but which is more in touch than he appears to be. It just so happens that the mechanism is already in place, and he himself deserves a large credit for putting it there.

From today (May 2), constituency parties will be receiving policy documents which they will be able to amend in order to inform the next election manifesto. It is imperative that views on, for example, council housing, the 10p tax, non-doms, Trident and others are pressed with the maximum support that can be mustered. To be fair and open the consultation process should include publication to all members of the documents and the amendments. But crucially, it will need individual members to get involved.

It’s not all over yet and Gordon can’t be left to do it on his own.