Ex-minister Ed Balls’ leadership bid
Wednesday 25th August 2010, 3:15PM BST.
Ed Balls launched his claim for the Labour hot-seat in Shropshire today by urging voters to “learn the lessons of history”.
The former Government minister said £6 billion spending cuts by the coalition Government were “economic lunacy” and would lead to mass unemployment and depression.
He was speaking at the Grays Hotel in Telford, where party members had nominated him as the preferred candidate to succeed Gordon Brown as party leader.
Mr Balls said claims by Prime Minister David Cameron that such cuts were the only way forward were “nonsense”.
He said: “We have got to prove there is an alternative to what they are trying with the economy.
“What they are saying is complete and utter nonsense and we must win that argument.
“The last politician to cut public spending was Margaret Thatcher and look what happened there – three million manufacturing jobs were lost and five years of mass unemployment.
“Before that it was sadly a Labour prime minister, Ramsay MacDonald in 1931, who cut spending and support for the unemployed and plunged us into depression.
“The 1930s and the 1980s were the worst decades for unemployment and they were started by politicians saying exactly what these lot are now.”
There were about 30 Labour members, including Telford MP David Wright, and Telford & Wrekin councillors, Kuldip Singh Sahota and Richard Overton.
Earlier Mr Balls had visited Wolverhampton to speak to members of the Commercial Workers’ Union about plans to privatise Royal Mail.
He launched his bid just hours before fellow Labour leadership contender David Miliband was expected to claim that only attracting a new “coalition of voters” from across the political spectrum will result in electoral success.
Mr Miliband will use a major speech, billed by aides as the most important in his campaign, to promise an approach of “realistic radicalism” if he succeeds in the contest.
He denied claims that he was rounding on his elder brother and leadership rival, Ed, who has spoken of the need to re-engage with core Labour supporters.
By Wayne Beese
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Yes, “economic lunacy”, the last 13 years of Labour, spending as always, money that we hadn’t got and removing all regulation over the banks which allowed them to run riot and drag this country into a morass of debt that has got us into the worst economic calamity that this country has ever suffered. Yes, we will learn the lessons of history from this idiot Balls when the intelligent amongst us say, Labour, never again. As for Balls himself, what a thought as leader of the opposition, what makes this arrogant man think that he is up to being the potential PM of this country. A product of a public school himself and the first to slate our public school PM, I suppose anything is possible in a party which gave us the buffoon John Preston as a Deputy Prime Minister.
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“There is an alternative Ed Balls for labour leader”?!?!?!?
Please, someone, tell us who he is – he surely can’t be worse than the current Ed Balls.
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Yes, remember the lessons of history:
Labour leaves Britain broke… Every time we are stupid enough to vote them in!
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Andy,
I’m not a big fan of Ed Balls, nor in fact of any of the leadership candidates.
However, Did you not spot the meltdown of the capitalist banking system? That alone directly contributed 30% of our GDP to our current debt levels.
The total debt level of approx 62% of GDP means that once we subtract that 30% we’re left with a ‘Labour’ debt of 32% of GDP – not an historically high figure.
The current recession was principally caused by the wealthy and Tory bankers, and, given the recent noticeable improvement in the performance of our banks, and the general improvement in inter-bank monetary supply, seems to have been somewhat over-hyped.
Which does beg the question; Why are the current government seeking to get so much out of the poor and ordinary working people, when they should, from both a moral and practical fiscal perspective, be getting the money back from the newly successful banks, and from the extremely wealthy in general?
After all – 5% of people in this country own 95% of the wealth – you do the maths!
Where is the closing of tax loopholes for the obscenely rich? Where are the increases in tax rates for the top percentages of high ‘earners’?
Whichever leader the Labour party gets, let’s hope they won’t be as blatant (Tory) or as subservient (Lib Dem) in their protection of the greedy rich as the current lot are.
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My daughter, bless her heart has just bought me the Peter Mandelson book, “The Third Man”. You would realise just how silly your comments are if you also were to read it, as for supporting the Labour Party, goodness me, if ever anyone blew the lid off this self serving, corrupt bunch of charlatans then the “third man” has well and truly done it. Having read it, my pride wouldn’t allow me to admit to supporting a single member of it. They demean this country if they are the best we can do – and you support them, well done. By the way, your expression, “Tory bankers” is a little out of context now, Labour took over that mantle when Blair took office, give me the name of one single “anti” banker in the current Labour Party. They are more the square mile than the Tories ever were and Mandelson, Brown and Blair were in the forefront of sucking up to them and the Russian multi billionaires.
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Stuart,
I doubt you’ll find any bankers who voted anything other than Tory – they know who will keep them protected.
Do you have any facts about debt and GDP to offer, or is this just the usual rant? If you deny that the true debt level is just 32% of GDP I’d be happy to see your figures. If you’re aware of any policies to tax the wealthy in a proportionate manner when compared to the poor, i’d be happy to see them and debate on the basis of fact.
The evidence all seems to point to the coalition purposefully setting out to hit the poor hard whilst protecting the rich at the poors’s expense – does your pride allow you to justify voting for a government that has such low moral standards?
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We have learned the lessons of history. Every Labour government is booted out follwing financial disaster.
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unlike say thatcher, major, churchill or any of the other tory recessions
LOL read your history HA HA
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We hear that the Labour party is near to bankruptcy; apparently, they’re short of funds and having to make savings all round.
Some mistake surely? That simply doesn’t make sense to me.
Surely Ed could solve all of their financial problems by simply spending more and borrowing more to cover it. Every time a bill comes in, just go and borrow more money. Every time there’s a need for expenditure, ask the bank for more loans.
Labour are hardly going to raise their profile and get the message across without spending on consultants and expensive TV and magazine advertising, so c’mon Ed, take a lead and get the party into the bank manager’s office and and asking to borrow more to spend more.
And as you’re so concerned about potential job losses, don’t cut back on Labour party staff, just spend on doubling or even tripling the payroll and pay them by borrowing from the bank.
Oh, and the interns and “volunteers” working hard within your leadership campaign? Pay them a decent wage and expenses as well. It’s not a problem, really, just go to the bank and borrow the money.
And to spend on all that travelling around the land convincing us that you’re the man to lead the party, no need for donations, just ask the banks to lend you more money.
See – simple economics: to spend more, you just need to ask the banks to lend you more.
Enough of your borrowing and spending on behalf of the taxpayer, let’s see you do it on your own account now.
Yeah, thought so.
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Great to see a Co-operative Party member in the Labour Leadership contest. One of the many magnificent legacies of the last government was the promotion of Co-operative Trust Schools. The Sutherland Business & Enterprise College have just become one of the most improved schools in the country in 2010 – with a 27% improvement in 5xA*-C grades including English and maths (60%) and a 21 improvement in our 5xA*-C grades (98%).
This makes them the highest attaining state school in Telford and Wrekin – behind only Thomas Telford and Adams Grammar when compared against all schools – also beating the two Academies on results in 2010.
Just shows what a difference a co-operative approach can make!
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WE had turned the corner. The economic recovery on the way. Debt lower than expected, growth slowly improving then voters thought they would like a change. A change we have got. Growth slowed, investment taken away, people thrown on the scrap heap and the poor being expected to pay for the greed and lack of responsibility of the bankers.
Ed Ball invested in our children with Sure Start, breakfast clubs and after school clubs.
The Tory’s are bringing in their old trick of washing their hands of responsibility and say YOU get on and do it. The blaming of the economic situation (which Labour managed well) with lower inflation, keeping people in work, never heard of before in a reccession is just an excuse to do what they always want to do.
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A possible Prime Minister Balls – could this mean the return to politics of Edwina Currie?
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What about the coloured candidate, [Mrs Abbot] to show how far we have come its about time we had another woman leading a main political party
just like Margret.
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The deficient was a necessity to deal with the world financial crisis and the approach of increasing spending to stimulate growth was mirrored by most if not all the major world governments. If the Tory’s had been in power, it would have been irresponsible for them not to have done likewise and would have threatened an even worse crisis….something that may still occur given the required cuts are being done too quickly and targeting the wrong section of the public.
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i quite like him actually at least he understands economics unlike the others
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Peter. Whatever the subject you write about you seem to get your information from a Web Site,and when people reply,in your next letter you produce a lot of dribble and always ask for proof, Have you not got a mind of your own? In your chosen profession, you must be at the very least a Professor!!!,please let us all know.
The labour party had a trade union official who earlier had brought the country to its knees due to the seamen’s strike, he was later to become a MP who over the following years has fought to dissolve the House of Lords. Welcome Lord Prescott.
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John,
I get much of my information from offical highly credible sources, such as the Office for National Statistics. I woud suggest this is a far more reliable source than the tabloid newspapers, from which you seem to get yours.
If people such as yourself and Stuart wish to engage properly in a debate, then you are equally at liberty to research these same websites and other sources of inormation in order to prevent an alternative set of credible facts. Yet you never do – why is that? Instead you set off on some non-sequitur rant about Prescott!
Could it be that you’re afraid to look at the official figures in case they burst your tabloid bubble?
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i like him too hes well ballsy, really got some umph and he HATES tories with a passion which is just what is needed, i think he’d be good leader but the tabloids would give him a hard time like brown so better go for someone photogenic a clone of blair and cameron is whats needed to win the vote of fickle uk women swing voters in marginals who sadly decide our elections
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more power to him, hes a good lad
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