'Ambitious' Ed Miliband lays out Labour's new direction ahead of the 2015 election

 
'New settlement': Miliband says Labour is ready to govern in a radically different way from the Blair and Brown administrations of 1997/2010
Andrew Woodcock19 July 2014
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Labour has reached a "new settlement" which takes it on from the New Labour era of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown without going back to old Labour, Ed Miliband will declare today.

Going into next year's general election, Labour will offer "a new direction for Britain" and will be ready to govern in a radically different way from the Blair and Brown administrations of 1997/2010, taking on fundamental problems which were not tackled by New Labour and building "a wholly new economy fit for the 21st century", he will say.

Speaking to the National Policy Forum which will hammer out the programme from which Labour's 2015 manifesto will be drawn, Mr Miliband will say the party cannot revert to its traditional agenda of spending more to fix the UK's social and economic problems, because "you and I know we won't have the money".

Instead, he will say that a "changed Labour Party" must be "more ambitious" in seeking to deliver greater equality and fairness by reshaping fundamental elements of the economic system, in areas ranging from the banks to energy markets, skills, housing and pay.

He will say that the key "generational question" next May will be which party can "change the country so that it works not just for a few at the top but for ordinary families once again", and will argue that it is Labour, rather than the coalition parties, who have an answer.

Aides said that Mr Miliband's "new settlement" marks a shift in direction comparable to the establishment of New Labour in the mid-1990s, when Mr Blair jettisoned sacred cows like nationalisation and committed the party to the market economy.

Mr Miliband will tell delegates at the three-day forum in Milton Keynes that the New Labour administrations sought to achieve greater social justice by redistributing the proceeds of the market economy, but "did not do enough" to fix problems in the British economy which predate the recession of 2008 and which will not be resolved by the "belated" return to growth achieved by the coalition Government.

Arguing that "we need a new direction, rooted in Labour values", Mr Miliband will say: "Higher spending is not the answer to the economic problem that we together have identified. Unless we fundamentally reshape our economy, we will only be able to compensate people for inequality and unfairness.

"We did great things in Government to redistribute resources. But we did not do enough to reduce inequality, or eliminate the problem of low pay, or build an economy that will work for the next generation.

"And the reason is that we did not do enough to change the fundamentals of our economy. That is what this programme and the next Government will do."

The policy platform agreed at Milton Keynes will amount to "a new programme for new times: a programme which is about building a wholly new economy, fit for the 21st century", Mr Miliband will say.

"An economy where there is dignity at work and fairness in pay. An economy where great British businesses create the jobs of the future, in alliance with a well-trained, skilled workforce. An economy where no interest is too powerful to stand in the way of the public interest. An economy where power is taken away from Whitehall and Westminster and given to people and the communities in which they live."

And he will add: "It is a plan for economic transformation that is not less ambitious because we live in a time of scarcity, but is more ambitious because it sets a new direction for Britain from the past.

"We have moved on from New Labour. And we are not going back to old Labour.

"Instead, our programme for Government is more radical and more ambitious in the change we seek, crafted for the age we are living in and the challenges we face."

The forum will produce a policy paper to be considered at Labour's annual conference in Manchester in September and then feed into the process of drawing up the manifesto for the May 7 poll.

Looking ahead to next year, Mr Miliband will say: "This election will come down to one fundamental question: Who can change our country so it works not just for a few at the top, but for ordinary families once again? It is the generational question we face. And we also know that if this is the question, this Government can't be the answer.

"Instead, this election will be about a changed Labour Party, with a programme to change the country: a higher minimum wage; an end to the abuse of zero-hours contracts; skills and careers for all our young people; banks working for businesses again; energy bills frozen; 200,000 homes built a year by 2020; power devolved; the Bedroom Tax abolished; and our National Health Service restored."

Mr Miliband will pay tribute to the party for responding to its calamitous defeat in 2010 not by losing touch with the public and drifting into internal division, but by changing to meet new challenges.

Telling delegates that "we are in a position where we can win the next election", Mr Miliband will say: "This weekend we meet as a changed Labour Party, with a new programme ready to fight the next General Election and change people's lives.

"This is a programme that shows we are ready to form the next Labour Government; a new settlement for our party so that we can form a new Government - and bring the change that Britain so desperately needs."

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