BRITISH LABOUR leader Ed Miliband has rejected charges that he is “anti-business” following his declaration that the rules that have governed it over the last 30 years must be radically over-hauled.
“I am not anti-business, I am anti-business as usual,” Mr Miliband told delegates and non-Labour members invited to a question and answer session last evening at the party’s Liverpool conference.
Questions were not vetted beforehand.
Throughout the day, Mr Miliband and senior Labour colleagues struggled to explain much of his agenda, with critics arguing that his plans to penalise people who behave badly and to reward those who act well will prove impossible to implement.
Denying that he was taking Labour to the left, the Labour leader yesterday said it “is not a left-wing thing to say that there should be responsibility”, adding: “We are going to be firmly in the middle ground of politics, but the middle ground is changing.”
On his plans for welfare reform, which have caused concern among Labour delegates, Mr Miliband said that the concept of “take what you can get”, or a “life on benefits” had to end – though the weakest must be protected.
“We must never excuse people who cheat the benefit system,” he said, adding that there were too many people currently “taking something for nothing” at the expense of those who “work hard and behave properly”.
Local authorities, he has argued, should be required to take the contribution of a person to a local society into account when deciding who should get local authority housing, though critics say much of this would fall at the first legal challenge.
“I say, of course, (that) need is important but if you are making a contribution to your community, if you are doing the right thing, if you are going out to work, then you get extra points for that. You should be rewarded and that has got to change in our society.”
During last evening’s question-and-answer session – the first time any British party leader has done this at a party conference, Mr Miliband was urged to bring his brother, David – whom he defeated for the leadership last year – “back from the political Siberia”.
However, the Labour leader said his brother had been the one to choose not to serve in the Labour shadow cabinet: “David is a massive asset to politics and to this party. I have always said that I would be happy to have him back.”
David Miliband attended only the first day of the conference, saying he did not want to be a distraction during the remainder.
The Labour leader’s answer did not satisfy his questioner, Minal Supri, a party member from Leeds.
“I wanted a straight answer and I didn’t get one. We want the party to unite and Ed to put an end to this once and for all ... This is a cloud hanging over Labour,” she said.