Balls makes his shadow Cabinet pitch
Ed Balls has called on his party to offer a clear “Labour alternative” to the coalition government’s programme of spending cuts, as he made his pitch for a senior job in the shadow Cabinet.
The shadow education secretary, who came third in the party’s leadership election, had been lobbying hard for the shadow chancellor role before the result was revealed on Saturday.
He had emerged as the chief advocate of a tougher stance on deficit reduction which would see Labour question the need for cuts on the scale being carried out by the coalition government.
It appeared to clash with Alistair Darling’s defence of the former Labour government’s stance, halving the deficit in four years, outlined by the shadow chancellor on Monday.
Today Mr Balls attempted to paper over the divisions as he adopted to life under Ed Miliband’s leadership.
He backed Mr Darling’s approach but characterised it as stating: “don’t start to cut the deficit until the recovery is secure”.
He told delegates: “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.”
His talk of a clear “alternative” mirrors the rhetoric being used by union leaders, who want the Labour party to adopt a clearer stance opposing cuts than the more pragmatic approach seen under Gordon Brown’s premiership.
Ed Miliband, perhaps seeking to position himself away from the unions whose support proved decisive in helping him win the leadership, distanced himself from them in his speech yesterday.
He said in his leader’s speech: “There will be some things the coalition does that we won’t like as a party but we will have to support.
“And come the next election there will be some things they have done that I will not be able to reverse.”
After elections for the 18 shadow Cabinet posts Mr Miliband will decide where to place Mr Balls. His decision could rest on whether his older brother David Miliband decides to abandon life in frontline politics after his narrow defeat.
Meanwhile Mr Balls attacked education secretary Michael Gove’s plans to create academies, freeing schools of control by their local authority.
“In opposition he might have been able to write good jokes for the House of Commons,” he said.
“But it’s no joke for all the children whose school buildings have been cancelled and whose hopes have been dashed.”
He blamed the Liberal Democrats for allowing the Conservatives to form the next government, saying Nick Clegg was responsible for Labour’s “surging” party membership.
“However much David Cameron and George Osborne use the Liberal Democrats as their human shields, we must not let the Tories off the hook,” he added.
“Because we know the very future of our public services, our welfare state, our economy are now in peril because of the reckless and deeply ideological Tory direction this coalition government has taken.”
