Yesterday, all but 48 Labour MPs abstained on government proposals to save £12bn from the welfare bill, in particular from the working age poor. This dithering follows 5 years of vitriol directed at Liberal Democrats over measures that did not go this far.

For five years I was constantly told by local Labour councillors that the government was assaulting the poor and vulnerable. Words like ‘evil‘ were used to describe the so-called bedroom tax – a measure which did indeed cause us regret not least due to its retrospective application (without which it would have been no different to the private rented sector Bedroom Tax that Labour had introduced). But now we have a majority Conservative government slashing tax credits, lowering the benefit cap, and withdrawing benefits from 3rd and subsequent children, and the Labour Party is falling over itself to agree. These measures are far more arbitrary than the bedroom tax – which was at least an attempt to deal with underoccupancy in social housing – and are bound to increase child poverty.

To be fair the dithering isn’t all new – remember that Ed Miliband took some time to decide to oppose the Bedroom Tax in the first place. Nonthelesss there is a breakneck U-turn going on here – from the position that the last government went much too far in cutting welfare, to the current position, that the last government didn’t go nearly far enough.

Perhaps this is just a sign that the 35% strategy is over and Labour is finally thinking about trying to win votes from the Conservatives. Being ‘evil’ for the greater good? The problem is that with 48 rebels, the voters are not going to buy it. Maybe a Labour government with a majority of 50+ could be tough on welfare, but we are a long way from there. Labour need, as do we and every other party, a reputation for being prudent with public money, for being pro-aspiration, and for sound economic policy.

But pick battles that you can win, and pick your targets according to your values. By picking on the working age poor you are showing a lack of values without convincing anyone of your credibility. The £12bn figure was not one the Tories ever expected to have to find – they expected to have to negotiate on it – and so even they had to be creative – raiding Housing Revenue Accounts, and an un-Tory boost to the minimum wage. There no need to lend that figure any legitimacy.

Contrast with our policy of £3.5bn of welfare savings targetted at the better off. Credible and decent.

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* Joe Otten is a councillor in Sheffield and Tuesday editor of Liberal Democrat Voice