Labour MP Attacks 'Confused' Party
Updated: 4:55pm UK, Thursday 01 August 2013
A veteran Labour MP has condemned the party's "confused" stance on key issues and expressed major fears about its re-election hopes.
George Mudie, MP for Leeds East since 1992, attacked the leadership for failing to set the agenda and questioned the lack of energy.
The former minister, a close ally of Gordon Brown, said Ed Miliband's problems included being "young" and the role played by the unions in his election as leader.
"I have difficulty knowing what we stand for now," he told BBC Radio 4's The World At One.
"We are 18 months away from an election thinking that we will put out a document on all these major items and the public will say 'Oh great.'
"And I think, often, at the moment, the Government are setting the agenda, making the weather and we're responding to it.
"Tony Blair and Gordon Brown never did that... . We're not setting any agenda, we're responding to the Tories."
Mr Mudie declared that Labour had to "demonstrate to people that we are relevant to their lives" if it is to get back into power.
If the party was not "offering something different" people would "stick with what they have got", he warned.
"There has to be and there is some concern that the lead we have in the polls, first of all is not firm enough, big enough," he added.
"Will it withstand a general election discussion?
"But the real thing is, do you know, because I don't, know our position on welfare, do you know our position on education, do you know our genuine position on how we'd run the health service?
"If you're not getting a clear enough message to me, and to some of my colleagues, what are you, what kind of message do you think you're putting out there?
"I remember before we won, 1992, the five years to 1997, this place was bubbling, we were energetic, we were at them, we thought we had all the answers.
"We're not at them and we're slightly hesitant and we're slightly confused and I deeply worry about that."
His comments come after Labour saw its poll lead over the Tories slip to just three points, according to the latest survey from ComRes.
The findings will fuel disquiet within Labour that the party and its leader is not making enough headway, with the next election now under two years away.
Mr Miliband, who is currently on holiday in the south of France, also faces a battle with the unions in the coming months after vowing to reform the party's union ties.
Shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan insisted Mr Miliband was doing the "heavy lifting" to win the election in 2015.
"We haven't got the luxury of what George had between 1992 and 1997 of being out of power for 18 years," he said.
"Since Ed has been leader the Labour Party has been ahead in the polls. I would remind you that the Conservatives spent 13 years in opposition up to 2010, and still did not win a general election outright."
Tory chairman Grant Shapps said: "This is all starting to sound very familiar. Yet another senior figure in the Labour Party has broken ranks and condemned Ed Miliband, this time as 'hesitant and confused'.
"Ed Miliband offers weak and directionless leadership to an increasingly restless Labour Party."
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