Miliband's speech fails to excite
Peter Hoskin 1:20pm
Was Ed's Big Speech worth the extended wait? Not really. It wasn't a stone-cold terrible speech, but neither was it the rambunctious, attention-grabbing number
that his leadership could do with. In fact, we could have saved ourselves the effort by simply reading his New Year's message again. That was considerably shorter, and covered almost all of
the same ground. Squeezed middle? Check. Tackling vested interests? Check. An admission that Labour will need to cut? Ch… oh, you get the point.
The best that could be said about today's speech is that it presented some of these arguments more clearly than in the past. Indeed, the attack on George Osborne's fiscal agenda was, by Miliband's usual standards, particularly punchy. And it teed up the Labour leader for what was perhaps his strongest point: that, contra what the coalition have previously suggested, the next government will inherit a deficit. ‘Whoever governs after 2015,’ he stressed, ‘will have to find more savings.’
But, sadly for Labour, these moments of clarity were surrounded by the usual fog. Even putting aside the sheer effrontery of Miliband moaning about the next government's fiscal inheritance, his points were sometimes hard to swallow. Here he was, once again, complaining that the coalition is going ‘too far, too fast’ on the deficit, while also trying to sound, erm, more like the coalition on the deficit. It would take a skilled political communicator to merge those two positions as well as they can be merged. Miliband is not a skilled political communicator.
And he's still not helping himself by having such a insubstantial policy offering. Jim Murphy last week demonstrated how specifics can support wider arguments — and although Miliband tried something similar here, there just wasn't enough of it. All we really found out is that Labour would limit rail fare increases for ‘every regulated train fare, not just the routes fewer people use’, and that they'd pressurise energy companies into giving ‘pensioners over seventy-five the lowest tariff on offer.’
And, worse, in those areas where he hinted at a policy, it often sounded more like a surrender. So would Miliband do the bold thing and limit universal benefits to those who need them the most? Nope: ‘The Government has already cut the Winter Fuel Allowance so that it provides less support. That cut may be something we cannot reverse.’ Has he learnt the lesson that gleaming, new school buildings don't equate to gleaming, new standards? No again: ‘Ask the parents who drop their kids off every day at the schools we transformed.’
Little wonder that Labour were keen to downplay the ‘relaunch’ hype. Because, intended or not, this was nothing of the sort. Instead it was predictable and it was mundane. Indeed, in a roundabout way, the BBC actually had it right when they trailed a ‘David Miliband speech’ beforehand. Ed Miliband may have beaten his elder brother to the leadership, but he's still failing to capture the imagination.
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toco
January 10th, 2012 1:33pm Report this commentWhat a terrible loser!Red Ed should get a job for once in his life before attempting to preach to the rest of us who actually work or have worked.
Ghengis
January 10th, 2012 1:41pm Report this commentThats an awful lot of words to describe so little
Axstane
January 10th, 2012 1:46pm Report this commentThe schools were not transormed - only the school buidlings. So now our children can fail in some comfort.
Heartless P.
January 10th, 2012 1:54pm Report this commentPersonally, - I, myself, - find the header piccy an inspiration. Indeed, I find myself trembling with anticipation of what might follow.
Could we not have similar masterpieces that portray the H2B in like style?
Holly ......
January 10th, 2012 2:08pm Report this commentLabour spent all the money..AGAIN..Check.
Labour wrecked Britain..AGAIN..Check.
Labour...Schools..Wrecked..Check.
Labour..NHS deaths/neglect soared..Check.
Labour..Unfetted immigration...Check.
Labour..Lies, smears/bull...Check.
Labour..Fat cat pay/bonus culture..Check.
Labour..EVERYONE equal & on some kind of benefit handout...Check.
Labour are the party of the working class MYTH...Check.
Labour..Will plop straight back into power in 2015....Tee hee!
Like Blair & Bozo used to love saying...
Judge us on our record...Miliband/Labour have no hope while the voter is doing just that.
Labour's only hope is that something catastrophic happens & the Tories/Coalition fail to get a plan in place to fix said catastrophe.
How old will Balls be in twenty years time?
Can this current shower hold on to their seats for twenty+ years?
2015 is NOT going to see Labour back in power, and the sooner they shut up and go away, for a good few years, the better for all concerned.
strapworld
January 10th, 2012 2:16pm Report this commentThe great bore said 'Politics changes things' but forgot to finish the sentence 'not always for the better'
The thing he cannot change is his face, his voice and just looking like a sixth form scholar with the soap still wet behind his ears.
Time for change Labour.
Verity
January 10th, 2012 2:23pm Report this comment"Miliband's speech fails to excite".
You could have knocked me over with a feather.
les
January 10th, 2012 2:23pm Report this comment"contra what the coalition have previously suggested, the next government will inherit a deficit. ‘Whoever governs after 2015,’ he stressed, ‘will have to find more savings.’
Which would be the case anyway considering labour were only going to reduce the deficit by half.
Andy W H
January 10th, 2012 2:25pm Report this commentEd M is a fatal combination of hapless and hopeless.
starfish
January 10th, 2012 2:38pm Report this commentThis morning I heard the first, mildly penetrating, interview of Mr M on R4
Just for once we did not witness the usual soft soaping granted to the Grauniad fellow travellers and he was hopeless
Just what does he mean by 'fairness'? He sounds like a 3 year old shouting 'it's not fair'
Just how can he claim that the 13 years of Labpour government - of which he was a prominent member, was not a total financial disaster and it 'wasn't them but a bigger boy'?
Just how doies he plan to reform the welfare system to reward work and good behaviour?
Endless platitudes and half-formed thoughts, not a policy in sight, nor any strong 'belief'
This is what happens when you put a wonk in charge instead of a conviction politician
BTW I notice that he was not challenged on Mr Blair's tax avoidance
tom jones
January 10th, 2012 2:42pm Report this commentGood to see someone at the BBC has a sense of humour. The speech was amazingly dull just like every speech he ever gives. I still remember bits of Clegg and Cam's conferrence speeches, but Ed's is a blur. Oh, wait there, I remember Blair getting booed. Labour don't like election winners (Blair) they like losers (Brown, Milliband, Foot, Kinnock)
Chris lancashire
January 10th, 2012 2:53pm Report this commentI support Ed M as Labour leader and fervently hope he lasts until at least the next election.
Percy
January 10th, 2012 2:54pm Report this commentPoor Ed just doesn't have the gorgeous simian like looks of his brother.
Vulture
January 10th, 2012 2:58pm Report this comment@Starfish: You say it all.
He doesn't need a relaunch. He needs a head transplant.
And to get a new job in the real world.
And Labour need a new leader.
Mirtha Tidville
January 10th, 2012 3:06pm Report this commentcome on guys stop knocking `Block Ed`....We need this loser to stay in place until the next election and maybe a bit beyond that as well
Dennis Churchill
January 10th, 2012 3:17pm Report this commentChris lancashire
January 10th, 2012 2:53pm
Which probably means you are a Conservative party supporter?
strapworld
January 10th, 2012 2:16pm
The political class seem to have forgotten that modern politics is about presentation which is why it suits actors,PR men and barristers. They can present a case without needing to believe in it and sound and look the part.
The Labour party membership and the union leadership may now be so culturally removed from the majority of the electorate that a candidate that could win them power may not be able to win the leadership. In fact they may not even be able to get selected for a safe seat.
Kim Jong-Ed
January 10th, 2012 3:18pm Report this commentPerhaps its time for a re shuffle of the numskulls in Eds head.
TrevorsDen
January 10th, 2012 3:22pm Report this commentAny incoming government in 2015 will not have to find MORE savings. The government spending plan will have been set out in Autumn 2014 and its budget set out in Spring 2015.
There was no plan to cut the total deficit by 2015 - the plan was to cut the structural deficit.
For every extra £ EdM says he will spend or not cut then he has to find it elsewhere. If he cuts tuition fees then where does the money come from? he re-spends the bank bonus tax 3 times a year at least.
Edward Wilcock
January 10th, 2012 3:34pm Report this commentEd Millibrand is a vote-loser type and not
worthy of the Labour Party or any other party.
Just a millstone. Edward Wilcock (84)
James W
January 10th, 2012 3:58pm Report this comment"Even putting aside the sheer effrontery of Miliband moaning about the next government's fiscal inheritance"
Really surprised the mass media hasn't made more of this. It is more than effrontery it is right damn right insulting. When was the last time a Labour government bequeathed a strong economy?
Chris lancashire
January 10th, 2012 4:01pm Report this commentDennis Churchill - certainly anti-Labour after the 13 years of wasting taxpayers' money.
Lord Wallington
January 10th, 2012 5:09pm Report this commentThe man is a complete and utter k**b !
Thirsty ferret
January 10th, 2012 5:24pm Report this commentAn excruciating performance by Milliband, savaged by the press who attended.
Dead leader, dead ideas, dead Party. Nuff said.
lescam
January 10th, 2012 5:33pm Report this commentDennis Churchill
January 10th, 2012 3:17pm
"modern politics is about presentation which is why it suits actors,PR men and barristers"
Too true. Which is why a modern politician with the "looks" of Churchill, Attlee, Baldwin or Chamberlain, or anyone middle-aged/elderly, with white hair, or no hair, plump, short, or ferret-faced, has no chance whatsoever of becoming leader. Even if said politician had the brains of Einstein, the investment talents of Warren Buffett or the business acumen of Terry Leahy. Looks and personality are everything these days, and anything else is of no account.
However, in the case of Ed Miliband, who apparently is not only lacking any kind of talent for politics, but also lacks charisma, or personality, and has a nasal voice and pop eyes, what does this man have that ANYONE
lescam
January 10th, 2012 5:36pm Report this commentthat ANYONE would want him as leader? Labour must be truly desperate, or have a death wish, to have chosen such a man.
His brother would have been an infinitely better choice from Labour's point of view, although the Tories are delightd with him.
Casual Observer
January 10th, 2012 5:44pm Report this commentWhy would energy companies be required to offer the best tariff for over 75s but be allowed to continue to shaft the rest of us?
Dimoto
January 10th, 2012 9:32pm Report this commentLeaving aside Red's peculiarities, any Labour leader would struggle with the wasteland that they left.
Major left an economy in hale good health, but Hague was massacred by the media/public opinion.
Red should hush-up with his big "visions" and concentrate on asking pertinent questions on detail. That would be appreciated.
Labour are still in denial, they haven't stopped campaigning for the last election yet.
Cynic
January 10th, 2012 10:55pm Report this comment@Casual Observer "Why would energy companies be required to offer the best tariff for over 75s but be allowed to continue to shaft the rest of us?" Because logic does not enter into Labour's idea of "fairness". We'd all get lower electricity bills if we didn't have to fund those useless windmills and pay for the green scam.
Jon Stack
January 11th, 2012 6:05am Report this commentMore idiocy and posturing on energy. Does he seriously think that energy companies would have the same range of tariffs on offer if they were forced to offer the lowest one?
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