David Miliband urges Labour rethink

Labour needs "restless rethinking" of its purpose and its policies if it is to return to power, former leadership candidate David Miliband has said.

In his most high-profile foray into the political frontline since being defeated by his brother Ed in the 2010 poll, the former foreign secretary set out a seven-point plan for the party.

He said Labour must admit "loud and clear" where it got things wrong in power, but - in what may be seen as a defence of New Labour against his brother's criticisms - he insisted the party must assert that the gains made between 1997 and 2010 "far outstripped the mistakes".

Mr Miliband was careful to praise his younger brother's leadership, but his decision to set out his own thoughts on Labour's future direction will inevitably spark speculation that he has not ruled out a return to the party's top ranks.

David Miliband (right) says his brother
 Ed deserves credit for his record as Labour leader

His intervention, in an essay in the New Statesman, came as Labour's former Chancellor Alistair Darling told the same magazine that the party needs to present its policies "in a sharper way".

David Miliband said his brother should be given credit for preventing disunity in the Labour ranks since its disastrous 2010 general election defeat. And he said his brother had shown he understands the need for a policy rethink and had spoken "powerfully and correctly" about welfare.

But he warned that there were elements within Labour who wanted to respond to defeat by retreating to "big state" social democracy.

And he said the party had "a lot to be concerned about" in terms of its prospects of electoral victory in 2015, when Conservatives will be boosted by their financial advantages and boundary changes which will favour them.

David Miliband wrote: "We will win again only when two conditions are met. First, that we fully understand in a deep way why the electorate voted against us in 2010. Second, that we clarify the kind of future we seek for Britain, and the means to achieve it, in a way that speaks to the demands of the time."

Labour must show they are "reformers of the state and not just its defenders", he said. "The weaknesses of the 'big society' should not blind us to the policy and political dead end of the 'Big State'. The public won't vote for the prescription that central government is the cure for all ills for the good reason that it isn't."

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