By René Lavanchy
CABINET Office Minister Ed Miliband indicated a possible shift away from Blairite electioneering tactics, as he told the Tribune tripartite rally that Labour could not rely on its core vote any more.
Mr Miliband told delegates: “Let’s not think that there’s a distinction between heartland Labour and middle England Labour.” He admitted that when people asked him if Labour had lost the working- or middle class vote, he said they had lost both.
And he called on the party to “break some of the New Labour habits of a lifetime” and be bolder in order to win the next election, for which he is co-ordinating the party manifesto.
Mr Miliband’s words are the strongest statement to date by a Government minister attacking the politics of “triangulation” whereby New Labour has sought to occupy Tory policy ground. Opponents of the tactic, such as Dageham MP Jon Cruddas, say this has cost Labour its traditional working class vote.
Mr Cruddas, who also spoke at the rally co-hosted by pressure group Compass and Unison, called on the Government to create “firm dividing lines” between Labour and the Conservatives on housing, equality, immigration, equality and “tax fairness”. He also proposed a new 45 per cent income tax band for the highest earners.
The rally heard strong endorsements of Gordon Brown’s premiership from the Compass wing of the party, as both Mr Cruddas and Hemsworth MP Jon Trickett joined ministers in attacking MPs who have recently called for a leadership ballot.
Mr Trickett said: “We can have a debate about policy, and we should… but what we cannot tolerate is disunity and disrespect of one for the other. The party needs to pull together.”
