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David Miliband has made a massive contribution already and he has a huge contribution to make in the future.
Ed Balls
Ed Balls says there is "no shame" in finishing behind Ed Miliband in the Labour leadership election, as he makes a pitch for the shadow chancellor’s job.
Addressing the Labour Party conference in Manchester today, the shadow education secretary said:
"David, Andy, Diane were great candidates and a credit to our party and we have conducted this election in a truly comradely way.
"But for the four of us who finished behind Ed Miliband, there is no shame in losing to someone who has inspired and energised our party - and who brought this hall to its feet yesterday.
"Working with him for 16 years in opposition, in the Treasury and in Parliament, I always knew that - for Ed - fairness, opportunity and social justice weren’t just slogans, they were his reason for coming to work in the morning - they were his defining purpose."
Addressing the new leader, who was on platform during his speech, Balls said: "Ed, I’ve been proud for 16 years to call you a colleague and a friend and now I’m proud to call you our leader."
He also singled out the new leader's brother for praise.
"David Miliband has made a massive contribution already and he has a huge contribution to make in the future."
The shadow foreign secretary is expected to announce he is stepping back from frontline politics today, after days of speculation.
Balls is widely seen to have had a good leadership campaign, finishing third behind David Miliband and the eventual winner Ed Miliband.
He has high hopes of being handed the job of shadow chancellor.
"I was proud to serve in Gordon Brown’s cabinet, we did not get everything right, but he was the right prime minister for a world financial crisis and history will give him the credit he deserves," he told delegates in the hall.
"Of course we need tough decisions to get the deficit down. But Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown were also right to say: don’t start to cut the deficit until the recovery is secure."
The party needed to offer a "Labour alternative" to George Osborne's programme of cuts, he said.
"We must win the argument - as Alistair said on Monday - that the speed and severity of the coalition’s ‘ideological cuts are both unfair and unnecessary and will put the recovery at risk.
"So we must make the case, as Ed Miliband did yesterday, that the credible way to reduce the deficit and get the economic moving again is not to sacrifice jobs and growth, but to put jobs and growth first."
One of Balls' main rival for the position of shadow chancellor in the front bench team is his wife, work and pensions secretary Yvette Cooper.
Article Comments
The clear message from the Education and Skills debate was that it would be reckless folly to cut rather than to invest in education.
Over the last few weeks of the Party Political Conference season, the NASUWT has met with thousands of parents, governors, teachers, support staff workers, councillors and others who agree that there is an alternative to the assault on education, other public services and the welfare state.
Chris Keates, NASUWT
29th Sep 2010 at 2:21 pm
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