Labour leadership challenger Ed Miliband called for a "different model going forward" and a rebalancing in the relationship between the state and the market today, criticising the Coalition Government's cuts agenda and their constant "diminishing, deriding and doing down" of the state.
Labour leadership challenger Ed Miliband called for a “different model going forward” and a rebalancing in the relationship between the state and the market today, criticising the Coalition Government’s cuts agenda and their constant “diminishing, deriding and doing down” of the state.
The shadow climate change secretary made his case in a speech about the role of the state and the future of social democracy in Westminster this afternoon, citing examples from his Doncaster constituency of people who had been poorly-served by the current economic model, which he dubbed the “old orthodoxy” and “an entrenched model of capitalism”.
He said:
“We need a more equal society, in which people have time to enjoy their community, culture, quality of life and the environment. We need to turn the page… we need a different approach to New Labour.
“We need to build the economy of the future and invest in the industries of the future and we need a Labour market which supportss a high-skilled, high-wage economy.”
He added:
“We need to move on from the 19th-century notion of the state. We need to reform the House of Lords, we need votes at 16, we need the alternative vote, and we need a reformed and more powerful local democracy.
“We also need to be more cautious about the extension of state power; I’m in favour of cctv, but id cards and the increase in stop and search section 44 without reason?
“Some young people told me they didn’t want to go on a climate change march because they might be filmed by the police. Now whether this is reality or perception it’s something we need to change.”
Turning his fire on the Government, he described the abolition of Regional Development Agencies as “scandalous” and said the Liberal Democrats “have forfeited for ever the right to be called progressive”, adding:
“We will campaign hard against the VAT rise and on a range of other issues as well. Lib Dem voters feel completey betrayed; they campaigned for fairer taxes and an equal society – this is not what we now have, we have instead more unfair taxes and a more unequal society.”
Responding to questions about the coalition, he said the Lib Dems would be “willing to sell their grannies to get into power” and would go down in history as having “broken the record for broken promises”, adding that not even Tory voters had “voted for these cuts” that would take the country “back to the world of 1996”.
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14 Responses to “Ed Miliband defends role of state & attacks Coalition for “deriding” it”
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