Labour party

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

Dr Miliband finally trusts his instincts and prescribes socialism to make Britain better

For three years, though we’ve been told all about who Ed Miliband is, we’ve often wondered whether we’re getting his real thoughts when he speaks. The Labour leader has often given the impression that he doesn’t trust his instincts, that he thinks that he should be speaking from the centre ground rather than as ‘Red Ed’, and that his forays into tougher welfare and immigration policies are things he’d rather not do. But today the Labour leader decided to embrace what he truly believes in: big government. Big socialist government. He announced price controls – ‘if we win the election in 2015 the next Labour government will freeze gas and

Sebastian Payne

Podcast special: our verdict on Ed Miliband's speech

James Forsyth says it’s the most left-wing speech he has heard from a political leader. Fraser Nelson thinks that socialism has now returned to British politics. Isabel Hardman thinks the plans for 200,000 new houses could be based on an error.  Our verdict of Ed Miliband’s speech to the Labour Party conference is now in, with a special edition of our weekly podcast the View from 22 (below). You can subscribe to our podcast through iTunes and have it delivered to your computer every week, or you can use the embedded player below: listen to ‘View from 22 conference special: Red Ed is back’ on Audioboo

Matthew Sinclair

Ed Miliband’s energy announcement may be nonsense, but it could become popular

First politicians banned cheap energy. They are creating an affordability crisis by insisting on the rapid deployment of expensive technologies like offshore wind and by imposing endless green taxes. It is simply illegal to generate electricity at an affordable price with a modern, efficient coal and gas power plant, without bearing all of those other costs. Ed Miliband was one of the people who imposed those high costs on consumers, as the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change in the last government. Now his plan is to fix the situation by banning expensive energy too. The Government already decides which technologies are good – wind, solar, carbon capture

Fraser Nelson

Red Ed is bringing back populist socialism

‘Red Ed is back,’ said the Daily Mirror’s Kevin Mcguire, and it’s a fair summary of today’s speech. He has pledged to use state power to force the hand of property companies: “use it or lose it” he said, reviving the idea of compulsory purchases. His new flagship policy is imposing a 20-month price freeze on domestic energy prices, ordering private companies around. He won a standing ovation when he pledged to reverse the Conservative (and Tony Blair) liberal reforms of the NHS. Now, you can say a lot about Ed Miliband’s shortcomings but you can’t call him vacuous. He now has an identifiable mission: to bring back ‘socialism’, as

Sebastian Payne

Video: Ed Miliband's plans to freeze energy prices

Labour have released an audio trailer which reveals the big announcement of Ed Miliband’s conference speech — energy prices will be frozen to 2017 under Labour plans: ‘How do you feel when you see your energy bill sitting at the front door? And you know its going to be even higher than the last one? And how do you feel when you read in the newspaper that your energy providers profits are up? Yet again. ‘Millions of ordinary families are struggling to keep up with bills. Bills that are rising faster than wages. Since David Cameron became Prime Minister, he’s allowed gas and electricity bills to rise by an average

Isabel Hardman

How the Tories made it easy for Labour on OBR announcement

Naturally, the leader’s speech is the most important part of the Labour conference, but the general feeling behind the scenes is that things are going pretty well. Sunday was a bit of a messy day, although strategists think the childcare announcements are still an overall win. But yesterday went extremely well – good speeches from Ed Balls and Chuka Umunna and only a little bit of chuntering from Len McCluskey. And the reason a lot of MPs feel it went particularly well is that the Tories played into their hands on Ed Balls’ announcement on the OBR. The Shadow Chancellor wasn’t just trying to improve trust in politics, as he

Isabel Hardman

The uncertainty about Labour's uncertainty on HS2

So now there isn’t just uncertainty over Labour’s support for HS2, but also uncertainty over the uncertainty after Maria Eagle tried her best to deliver as upbeat a speech as possible about the high speed rail link. The Shadow Transport Secretary did deal with the issue, and she made clear that Labour’s support is now conditional. But what she didn’t do was suggest that Labour was questioning the value of the whole project. Eagle told the conference hall: ‘That’s why we support High Speed 2. And, unlike the Tories, no blank cheque for any government project. So, as Ed Balls rightly says: we support the idea of a new north-south

Nick De Bois

The ghost of Gordon Brown stalks Ed Miliband’s dangerous business tax plans

Gordon Brown was notorious for complicating our already over-complicated tax system, and it seems that his former aide, Ed Miliband, wants to emulate the master. The danger is that Ed Miliband would do so against the backdrop of a vulnerable economy in a very mobile global market place. His latest idea is to put up corporation tax, arguing that this will “pay” for a freeze in business rates on small firms. In fact, the net burden on business will remain unchanged, so his tinkering would be little help to the small businesses that he allegedly wants to help. There are more devils in Miliband’s detail: the freeze would only apply

Isabel Hardman

Ed Miliband's give and take away business strategy

Far be it from anyone to criticise a party that wants to build more homes, but Ed Miliband’s plan to announce in his speech that Labour would build 200,000 new homes a year by 2020 isn’t a particularly interesting one. It’s not that it’s not a good idea to fix our broken housing market, but that politically it’s a reasonably predictable move. Which probably means it’s a good thing, and it certainly fits in with the party’s cost of living drive. But there is another policy being unveiled today that’s more interesting because it tells us something important about the way Labour relates to groups and organisations around it. Labour

Steerpike

Coffee Shots: Iain Dale's rumble by the seaside

Damian McBride certainly seems to have brought the edge back to Labour politics. LBC’s Iain Dale got into a fight with an anti-nuclear protester, who was interrupting an interview with McBride. Thanks to a wandering PA photographer, you can see Mr Dale dealing with him:

Sebastian Payne

Labour conference: Tuesday fringe guide

Every morning throughout party conference season, we’ll be providing our pick of the fringe events on Coffee House. We’ve reached the third day of Labour’s annual conference in Brighton, and as the saying goes, the early conference bird catches the fringe worm. There’s plenty of past and present frontbenchers making appearances, on a variety of topics, throughout the day: Title Key speaker(s) Time Location Governing from the Left: Economic competence… Margaret Hodge 08:00 Lancing 1, Holiday Inn Returning to growth: How can Britain build a stronger economy? (invite only) Lord Adonis 08:00 Brighton Media Centre Value and values: What is a One Nation business model? Tessa Jowell, Toby Perkins 08:00

Monday

Steerpike

Ed Miliband is no ladies-man

Labour is the only party for women; that was the message of its conference launch last weekend. Every step towards equality had been made by the red team, it was claimed. Of course there was no mention of Maggie, the first (and only) female PM. Indeed, the party had to overlook the fact that it has never even elected a female leader. Harriet Harman and Margaret Beckett have both been leader by default, before being replaced by the newly elected male leader. Speaking of which, Ed Miliband recently had Messrs Rawnsley and Helm of the Observer round to his house in Dartmouth Park for a natter. Katherine Rose, a freelance photographer (pictured, above), was with

Alex Massie

Thank Heavens for Godfrey Bloom

I was at a funeral on Friday and so late catching-up with the latest entertainment provided by UKIP. But, gosh, thank heavens for Godfrey Bloom. Not just because he and his ilk have injected some welcome craziness into British politics – the circus always needs new clowns – but because by doing so they have reminded us of the stakes involved. Bloom – last heard decrying aid squandered on feckless Bongo Bongo Land – one-upped himself with his talk of sluts who fail to clean their kitchens properly. Sure, there was something refreshing about hearing Nigel Farage admit all this amounted to a disaster for UKIP but the bigger point is that

Keith Cooper

Labour's claim of being the party of council housing is in tatters

As part of the Labour conference focus on the cost of living, the party will be going to great efforts this week to reclaim its presumed title as the party of ‘council housing’. Expect to hear private builders bashed for squirrelling away land plots rather than piling ‘em high with apartments as they should. And the pillorying of the right to buy policy, ritually chastised as it is each conference as the chief reason for the country’s interminable descent into social housing drought. What you’re unlikely to hear is a serious admission by Labour of its appalling track record on council housing supply. That local authority housing passed into private

James Forsyth

Stephen Twigg snaps back

Much of the talk down in Brighton is of the coming shadow Cabinet reshuffle. One person frequently tipped for the chop is Stephen Twigg, the shadow Education secretary. There’s much chatter that he might be replaced by Liz Kendall. But judging by his interview in today’s Evening Standard, Twigg won’t go quietly. He declares that he’s not going to try to change the fact that most secondary schools are now academies and that ‘if further schools want to convert that’s fine by me.’ This is Twigg telling those on the Labour left who are opposed to academies to get their tanks off his lawn. He’s also making clear that if

Sebastian Payne

The View from 22 podcast special: Labour's money day

On the second day of Labour’s annual conference in Brighton, The Spectator’s Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman discuss Ed Balls’ and Chuka Umunna’s speeches on the economy and business. We also spoke to shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rachel Reeves about what she thought of Ed Balls’ speech. You can subscribe to the View from 22 through iTunes and have it delivered to your computer every week, or you can use the embedded player below: listen to ‘View from 22 conference special: Labour’s money day’ on Audioboo

Isabel Hardman

Len McCluskey: My party, my way, or the highway

So far the tensions in the Labour party over Ed Miliband’s plan to reform the link with the trade unions have stayed below the surface at this conference. The closest it came was, unsurprisingly, when Len McCluskey took to the stage. The Unite leader made another plea for the unions to ‘set our vision of how we will build our country in government’, and told the leadership (Ed Miliband had strangely disappeared from the stage at this point) that ‘if OUR party is to have a future it must speak for ordinary workers and it must represent the voice of organised labour’. He also made his customary attack on the

Sebastian Payne

Exclusive: Jon Cruddas denies he was actively considering linking benefits and MMR vaccination

Much of this morning has been taken up with Labour figures trying to get across they aren’t actively considering the story on the front of today’s Times — that Labour is planning to deny child benefit to mothers who refuse to give their children the MMR jab. I have just chaired a fringe meeting on the Big Society and asked him afterwards if the story was true. He told me that the idea was originally floated by ‘Kevin Rudd in Australia’ and was ‘never part of the Labour policy review’. Cruddas also suggested the One Nation vaccination idea was ‘an interesting idea’ but just one of ‘loads of ideas put to me’. This story falls

Fraser Nelson

Analysis: Ed Balls is right on HS2, wrong on almost everything else

I will admit to a grudging admiration for Ed Balls. He’s wrong about most things, dangerously so. But his speeches are always well-considered, full of substance and usually part of a strategy that he keeps up for months if not years. For that reason, his speeches are always worth reading. This was a good speech, full of substance and forceful expositions of classic leftist errors. Aside from his bizarre towel joke, here’s what jumped out at me from his speech here at the Labour conference in Brighton:- 1. Back to the 1970s! Balls pledges to reverse reform and return to the pre-Blair Labour. Ed Balls was always against the Blair-era