Among the long list of items that may be blamed on the extremely early Easter this year is the condition of the Labour Party. MPs return to Westminster today after an unusually late recess and an unusually noisy one. Confronted with constituents aggrieved at the abolition of the 10 pence tax band and concerned about the health of the economy more broadly, Labour MPs appear to have lost any spirit of discipline. As John Hutton, the Business Secretary, conceded yesterday, a number of them seem to be intent on “aiming at their own goal” - worse still, they are hitting the target with atypical accuracy. As the new preface to the Alastair Campbell diaries warns, governing is not as easy as some of those who took over from Tony Blair and his team thought. Unless the rigour associated with Downing Street then is restored, Labour will be heading out of office.

That will not occur unless Cabinet members as well as backbenchers are more restrained in their activities. There was little wrong in the substance of David Miliband's observation in a newspaper article that the Government needed to “see the world through the eyes of voters” or in his warning that his party faced defeat at the polls if it “argued among ourselves, failed to defend each other and our leader”. Whether it was entirely wise to provide that counsel in print rather than to the Foreign Secretary's colleagues in a more private manner is a different matter entirely. When ministers join in the process of running commentary on the Government's own woes, it only adds to the sense of incoherence bordering on chaos. The Prime Minister should be insisting that a period of collective silence is long overdue.

A period of consistency would also be helpful. The 10p tax rate saga is an epic example of political blindness. The problem has been looming for some 13 months and Treasury ministers had not one but two opportunities to offset it in the Pre-Budget Report last October and the Budget itself last month. Labour MPs should have been aware about the issue, too, and lobbying for change. There is scant evidence that more than a handful of them ever did, but now much larger numbers are expressing discontent and threatening a rebellion on the measure next week. It is far too late for such an uprising. As the Chancellor noted yesterday, it would be impossible to unravel such a complicated package at this late stage and would offer the impression of an administration in absolute meltdown. It would have assisted the Government's cause, nonetheless, if that firm message had gone out last week and not this.

As matters stand, the Bank of England will make a major statement today on how it intends to restore confidence in, and liquidity to, the banking system and the credit markets. This will be echoed by Alistair Darling in the House of Commons. The compelling political imperative is for Gordon Brown to restore confidence in his leadership and to indicate a sense of direction to his Government. He cannot afford to leave this to associates. The 10p tax rate decision was one which he took as Chancellor. He has to convince Labour MPs that he is listening to their concerns (and those of the electorate) and he will act in future, but that they must avoid a disastrous display of disunity days before the local elections.

Politics is indeed often about seeing the world through the eyes of voters. What those voters are seeing is a party with many MPs who appear to have lost the political will to live. If that is how it continues to appear over the next few weeks and months, they will draw the logical conclusion.