David Miliband defends Labour's record

Published on Sunday 13 June 2010 23:22

THE front-runner in the Labour leadership contest yesterday insisted that the party should speak out to defend its creation of the UK's record debt levels.

• David Miliband, left, and brother Ed are both contesting the Labour leadership race. Pic Getty

Former foreign secretary David Miliband made his call at a leadership hustings in Glasgow, the first of 50 for party members around the UK.

Labour officials claimed that they had been forced to turn people away, with 500 members in the ballroom at the city's Royal Concert Hall to hear Mr Miliband, his brother Ed, Ed Balls, Diane Abbott and Andy Burnham.

The issue of the economy and the cuts to come from the new Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition hung over the debate, with Labour accused of mishandling the economy.

Despite the flak his party is now receiving on the issue, David Miliband insisted that Labour needed to "stop the trashing of its record" on the economy.

He said that they needed to take issue of the deficit head on, which the Tories and Lib Dems have been using to justify severe cuts in the near future.

"We need to explain why we went into deficit", he said, arguing that at the time it was "necessary to protect jobs and create growth".

The Tories seized the comments, made by a man who many expect to become Labour's leader. A Conservative spokesman said: "The Labour Party landed this country with the biggest deficit ever known.

"If David Miliband thinks that is something to be proud of, then he should think again. Every single person in this country will be suffering the consequences of that debt for years to come."

But Mr Miliband's comments struck a chord with many in the room, including his fellow leadership candidates, who believe the Tories are cutting unnecessarily harshly.

Ms Abbott also argued that the deficit issue was being used as an excuse to bring in the cuts the Tories always ideologically wanted.

She suggested there was a bigger agenda being pushed forward by the Cameron government. "This is not just an abstract economic necessity," she said. "It is about defending the advances Labour has made not just since 1997, but 1945."

There was unanimous agreement that the banks needed to be regulated more. Mr Burnham argued that the time had come for a tax on the banks.

The former health secretary was scored by many as a surprise winner of the debate with his appeal to his Merseyside working-class roots. He told the audience there were times when it appeared as if the Labour government had "put big business before people" and had been "seduced by power, money and glamour".

Ms Abbott

complained that "within the Westminster bubble, bankers became venerated above all else" and added: "We need to leave that adoration of bankers behind."

Shadow education secretary Ed Balls hit out at the government's plans for public service spending cuts, branding this a "deeply deflationary mistake" that could jeopardise thousands of jobs.

He said: "I think we've got to fight, fight, fight and say what they are doing is dangerous, deflationary and the wrong solution to our country's problems."

And Ed Miliband, the shadow energy secretary, hit out at the gap between rich and poor, saying: "I'm campaigning for a living wage and for a high pay commission to deal with the excesses at the top."

There was wide agreement that the Scottish Parliament needs more powers, while Ed Miliband went further by arguing that the Scottish party needed more autonomy and claiming that the London party "should lighten up".

All of them wanted to see greater democracy in the party, with an elected UK chairman and Holyrood leader Iain Gray given a seat on the party's National Executive Committee.

It was a debate which at times got bogged down with rows over inner-party workings, with four of the five suggesting a back-to-the-future approach of reintroducing 1980s style internal democracy.

Four of the five said the party had become too authoritarian and the members needed more power.

Ms Abbott called for a return to the structures of earlier decades, where members had more power over policy, while Mr Burnham suggested that the infamous clash between Neil Kinnock and disgraced former Liverpool Militant council leader Derek Hatton was "quite a good thing".

Only David Miliband stood out against this line, reminding an unconvinced audience of the lost elections and the "demoralisation" caused by past splits.

The economy question came from Ian Fulton, a party member from East Renfrewshire, the seat of former Scottish secretary Jim Murphy, which the Tories have poured money into to win back.

Meanwhile, former city minister Lord Myners has condemned his former colleagues for their lack of understanding of the debt problem, arguing that there "is nothing progressive" about paying 70 billion in interest.

Prime Minister David Cameron had pointed out in a recent speech that the UK would soon be spending 70bn on interest alone – more than on health and education and twice the annual Scottish budget.