Ed Miliband's Q&A

After his historic speech yesterday Ed Miliband took time to answer questions from members of the party. The questions ranged from police to Northern Ireland, tax to the Liberal Democrats. Asked on what his position on the living wage Miliband said he was certainly open to the idea, reminding us that 12 Labour councils are already using the living wage. He was asked by one woman what his vision for the next 20 years would be, he said that he set out what he would do yesterday but he took most of the time to talk about the environment. He spoke of how George Osborne didn’t understand the crisis we’re facing and that he did.

Asked on the issue of domestic violence and women, Miliband reminded us that this government’s tax rises and benefit cuts hit women disproportionately and that there were no women in the treasury. He also said that the government cuts to policing were dangerous for the women who rely on them.

Education of course came up, when asked about tuition fees, Miliband said he’d cut them to £6000 it wasn’t good enough for some people though as one woman screamed “It’s not enough!”

The economy was the most common issue for people to express their opinions on; the public sector pay freeze (which Labour supports) has angered some within the Labour Party, particularly on the union side.  Miliband’s response was as expected (this question is constantly coming up), he says that some cuts need to be made and when the choice is between pay or jobs, jobs take priority. When asked whether he supports the Robin Hood Tax, Miliband said he did but only if every other financial centre did so; as going alone would damage the city. The problem with this tactic is that no country or financial centre is prepared to be the first one to do so; it’s basically a giant, international, game of chicken.

The final three points were a bit less pressing; the first is the question over Northern Ireland. A woman representing Northern Ireland CLP asked whether the Labour Party would begin to field candidates for election in the country. Miliband disappointed the Northern Irish in the hall when he said he would not stand candidates in NI as he believes it would damage the party’s reputation as a honest broker. Secondly was the whether or not he supported lowering the age of voting to 16, he said he did but at the same time people should be given a proper citizenship education. I do understand where he is coming from, although we had citizenship classes at school, they were entirely pointless and we never learnt anything. I still have no idea how to register to vote, which should be the most important thing they teach students in Social Education (SE as it’s actually called). The final was on the issue of nuclear weapons and whether Britain should disarm, or at least stop the £100 billion Trident upgrade. Miliband took the typical Labour route saying he did not support unilateral disarmament, but that Britain’s nuclear deterrent should be at the minimum required and nothing more.

Overall I was once again impressed with Ed’s performance, as in his speech he was confident and looked to enjoy the experience. He cracked a few, genuinely funny, jokes and got much rapturous applause from the audience.