Will Miliband use his lifeline in PMQs?
James Forsyth 11:30am
At the weekend, Tories were anticipating giving Ed Miliband an almighty kicking at PMQs.
Lord Glasman’s description of Labour’s economic record as ‘all crap’ had given
them a killer line. As one member of the Cameron circle joked to me, ‘we’ve never
had more material to work with.’
But Ed Miliband now has a get out of jail free card. If he asks six questions about the Union and the referendum, it will be impossible for Cameron to have a pop at him without looking distinctly
unstatesmanlike. On Scotland, the two leaders need each other. The Unionist side cannot win without the Labour party and the Labour party will find it very hard to win general elections without
Scotland.
The question is whether Miliband chooses to take this out or not. There’ll be those saying it would be a sign of weakness to do so. But given that the very existence of the United Kingdom is
at stake, Miliband could hardly be criticised for leading on the referendum.
Previous
Jonathan
January 11th, 2012 11:42am Report this commentThe fact that the Labour Party will find it very hard to win general elections without Scotland is surely the principal argument in favour of dissolution of the Union.
Chris lancashire
January 11th, 2012 11:49am Report this commentPerhaps we should stop thinking that the end of the current Union would be the end of the world. If a decent majority of Scots feel they would be better out of it then so be it. A new constitutional arrangement will arise. And at least it will end the Scots yapping on to cover their inferiority complex.
Maggie
January 11th, 2012 11:51am Report this comment"......Miliband could hardly be criticised for leading on the referendum."
I'll find it very easy to criticise him no matter what he says.
Salopian
January 11th, 2012 11:52am Report this commentLogic says you're right James, nut can resist having a pop at the divisions in the cabinet on the HS2 . So he will lead with three on Scotlans and come bacd on HS2 - since there's not a lot for Cameron to throw at RedEd
Bob Dixon
January 11th, 2012 11:55am Report this commentThis referendum affects the whole of Great Britain. All voters must be included in the referendum.
Salopian
January 11th, 2012 12:05pm Report this commentOh dear - he didn't take the easy route did he ?
Salopian
January 11th, 2012 12:11pm Report this commentWe've just seen the most compelling piece of evidence that Ed isn't just Red but Ed the Unready !
He would do well to read the Spectator
Salopian
January 11th, 2012 12:13pm Report this commentAt last - someone must have poked him ((Hatty looked pretty glum in the first bout )
Simon Stephenson.
January 11th, 2012 12:18pm Report this commentThe leaders of our two largest Parties spending several hours each week preparing for a 30-minute piece of teenage-level verbal trickery and playground posturing.
Is it any wonder that political practitioners are held in such low esteem?
WilliamW
January 11th, 2012 12:48pm Report this commentThe truth is that the Labour party will find it very difficult to win elections with Milliband.
Cynic
January 11th, 2012 1:11pm Report this commentI congratulate your picture editor on his/her choice of photo for this article. "Is that an idea I see in the distance?" Or simply, "is there anybody there?"
Axstane
January 11th, 2012 2:41pm Report this comment@Simon Stephenson
You might not like it but it is democracy visibly at work for all to see. I seldom manage to watch it live but many town councils would be delighted if the residents came to watch debates in their chambers. Certainy mine is and we are actively encouraging people to come.
The more transparency we have over matters of state the better I like it.
Axstane
January 11th, 2012 2:43pm Report this commentSalopian
Should that not be AwfulEd the Unready?
You have to pity the man since almost nobody really gives any credence to anything that Labour ex-Ministers say.
David Lindsay
January 11th, 2012 3:33pm Report this commentEd Miliband was right to list the NHS among the great achievements of the United Kingdom as such.
But in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, they still get to live in somewhere that it is recognisably Britain, whereas in England we are the guinea pigs in the never-ending crazy experiments of the think tank schoolboys, suiting only too horrifically the outright crookery of Andrew Lansley in the service of his paymasters, the American healthcare profiteers whom Obama is forcing to find new victims beyond their own shores.
How does Scotland or Wales (Northern Ireland less so, I expect) feel about the growing likelihood, and indeed the growing reality, of much of the population being made up of people who have retired there from England in order to live out their days in something resembling the Britain in which they grew up, with the costs duly met by Her Majesty's Exchequer in London?
Hardly a boon for the separatist cause. Might not Alex Salmond prefer the independence referendum to be held next week after all, before even more of them have headed north?
Chris lancashire
January 11th, 2012 5:12pm Report this commentDavid Lindsay: Steady on, Lansley has only had 18 months to wreck England, New Labour had 13 years at it.
Simon Stephenson.
January 11th, 2012 9:07pm Report this commentAxstane : 2.41pm
It's not "democracy in action" nor is it a debate. At best, it's thousands of man-hours wasted each week in the production of a piece of drama that is irrelevant to the efficacy of representative administration. But actually it's worse than this - it's a grotesque distortion of what politics should really be about, and the presentation of such a distortion can only serve to trivialise what is our most important organisational social process.
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