Forget for a moment all the hyperbole surrounding British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s first use of the word “cut” in reference to Labour’s public spending plans.

Anyone who read the Budget this year is well aware that Labour was planning a fiscal tightening to bring record high government debt into line and that would require both tax hikes and spending cuts.

What was striking about Brown’s speech in Liverpool on Tuesday to the trade unions that help bankroll his party was its reception.

It was a hard sell to tell public sector union members that cuts are on the way, especially when they have threatened industrial action over the issue.

But the timing of it was strange — given Labour’s big opinion poll lag behind the Conservatives — and the response to what should have been a rallying speech ahead of a tough election run-in was very muted.

Brown really needs these most hardcore of Labour activists to be onside if he is to stand a chance of seeing off the challenge of the Conservatives.

He piled on the passion, bellowing out lines across the hall and attacking the Conservatives, dubbed by one union leader as the “enemy” earlier this week.

And yes, the some of the big bosses of the biggest Labour-affiliated unions seemed convinced it hit the spot.

But the rank and file were not impressed.

The patches of applause there were during his address felt polite, not thunderous, and delegates streaming out of the hall afterwards appeared resigned to the fact that the election is already lost.

If Brown can’t get these ardent left-wingers fired up, how is he going to convince anyone else?

Those opinion polls might just be spot on.