There is no mistaking the fact that voters reward leaders of parties who understand the difficulties and hardships experienced by them, and whose empathy translates into the radical policies needed to improve their standard of living.

The standard of living, or as Harold Wilson might have said, "the pound in your pocket," is the theme of this year's Labour Party conference.

Ed Miliband is quite right to focus on the fact that most ordinary Britons have never had it so bad, to quote another former prime minister, Harold MacMillan.

Living standards have plummeted more sharply in this country than virtually anywhere else in the developed world in the wake of the banking meltdown.

The stark truth is - and even having the benefits of being outside the eurozone - zero-hours contracts, part-time working and continuing attacks on collective agreements with trade unions have seen living standards fall through the floor.

The public increasingly disbelieve the claim that politicians can improve their lot. Many say that we are "all the same."

Last week Nick Clegg promised to restore free school meals in infant schools, but even his own conference failed to raise much of a cheer.

The dwindling band that are the Liberal Democrat rank and file know full well that their leader has been party to some of the most savage attacks on the living standards of the poorest and most vulnerable.

They will recall that it was Clegg who voted with the Tories to get rid of the education maintenance allowance and for the brutal bedroom tax. They can spot a gimmick.

The challenge for Miliband is to offer a great deal more than the few sugar-coated pills that Clegg, or for that matter, David Cameron can offer. What we need is the boldness and radicalism of Harold Wilson, who in 1974 offered a whole panoply of policies on living standards, job security, pensions and health.

That he was able to do so, and institute so many of those policies at a time when the Opec cartel was massively inflating global oil prices, is testimony to his boldness.

It is also reminiscent of that other great Labour leader Clement Attlee, who, along with Aneurin Bevan, introduced a "cradle to grave" welfare state at a time when Britain was deeply mired in postwar austerity.

Attlee, Bevan and Wilson knew that "socialism is the language of priorities."

Voters could see they were serious and believed their intent. There was little talk in the postwar years that politicians "are all the same."

Last year Miliband laid claim to Disraeli and his "one nation" Conservatism.

This was a clever move designed to show how out of touch and right wing the current Conservative Party under Cameron really is.

Cameron has not disappointed. The latest venture, to privatise the Royal Mail, is something that even Thatcher didn't dare to do.

Miliband's vision of "one nation" is more rooted in the idea that Britain has to be a more equitable country, but it is a vision that needs to be backed up by hard, workable, believable policies that must inevitably entail a fundamental redistribution of wealth and power in this country.

Although it is positive that Miliband has shown he is on the side of those unable to work - the sick, the disabled and the old and infirm - by committing to reverse the pernicious bedroom tax, the gaps between the "haves" and the "have-nots" in modern Britain are back to Victorian levels of inequality.

While billionaires dig multimillion-pound underground home extensions, disabled people are being slung out of homes with extra bedrooms.

While elderly people fear a coming cold winter, the privatised energy giants prepare to profit on their misery.

While bankers continue to award themselves grotesque bonuses for trashing the economy, those with jobs struggle to pay for the basics in life.

In the 21st century Britain of haves and have nots, you will have 20 years more of healthy living if you are born in Twickenham and not Tower Hamlets.

What an indictment of the baby-boomer generation of politicians, whose mothers and fathers created the welfare state, who strive to make Britain fairer and more equal, but who kicked it all away as soon as they had a chance.

This week in Brighton we need to hear how we are going to get Britain back to work, rebuild our shattered manufacturing base and reskill our workforce, especially in areas such as mining.

We need to hear that child-friendly policies are at the heart of a plan to getting Britain back to work.

We need to learn how Labour intends to work with the trade union movement to restore rights, recognition and decent wages at work.

The general election is barely 18 months away. The Tories and their friends in the media have decided that the best way in which Miliband can occupy himself is by taking on the trade unions.

However, when Miliband has not listened to them and instead aimed his sights at Rupert Murdoch, or helped to avert a major war in the Middle East, his message has gone down well with the public.

This week we need Miliband and Labour to emerge fighting all the way to the general election.

Grahame Morris is Labour MP for Easington.