Addressing key trade union is not political risk, says Ed Miliband

Published on 14/07/2012 16:33

ED Miliband has denied he took an electoral risk by becoming the first Labour leader since Neil Kinnock to address one of the country’s most traditional trade union events.

• Ed Miliband denies suggestions that attending traditional trade union event is political risk

• Neil Kinnock was last Labour leader to attend Durham Miners’ Gala

• Conservative Party co-chairman Baroness Warsi accuses Miliband of cosying up to “militant, left-wing paymasters”

Around 100,000 people were expected to attend the Durham Miners’ Gala, also known as The Big Meeting.

Mr Miliband took to the balcony of the County Hotel as Labour leaders of the past have done for decades, watching some of the 80 or so miners’ banners and around 50 brass bands parade past.

Afterwards he addressed the large crowd on the old Racecourse, where he hit out at the bankers, Rupert Murdoch and “the rip-off” of Britain’s energy companies.

He listed some of the Labour heroes who have spoken before him at past galas, including Keir Hardie, Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson and Barbara Castle.

“I am proud to follow in their footsteps,” he said. “I am proud to be here today.”

Afterwards, he denied he had taken an electoral risk.

He said: “The stakes are so high in this country. If you are someone who is looking for work, whose living standards have been squeezed, or someone worried about the NHS you’re not thinking why’s Ed Miliband going to the Durham Miners’ Gala, you are thinking what can Ed Miliband do for me.”

Mr Kinnock was the last Labour leader to attend in 1989, even though Tony Blair’s Sedgefield constituency was part of the Durham Coalfield. The Conservative Party co-chairman Baroness Warsi said that by attending the event, Mr Miliband was cosying up to his “militant, left-wing paymasters”.

But Mr Miliband said: “When you see people marching past as I did from the balcony of that hotel, a march people have been doing for 140 years, I think that it is not just about politics, it is about the strengths of these communities.

“The idea that the people here are a bunch of militants, as some of my opponents say, is nonsense.”