Miliband urges U-turn on economy

25 September 2011 Last updated at 21:19 GMT By Brian Wheeler Political reporter, BBC News Ed Miliband admits his party faces a big challenge to win back votes David Cameron must "start showing some leadership" and "change course" on the economy, Ed Miliband has said.

Speaking as his party gathered for its annual conference in Liverpool, the Labour leader said the coalition's austerity programme was "not working".

And he again called for a temporary VAT cut to kickstart growth: "You can't leave an economy flat on its back."

He also called for a £6,000 cap on university tuition fees to ease the debt burden on students.

Labour is expected to use its week in Liverpool to set out an alternative economic vision, ending what Mr Miliband has called the "fast-buck" economy.

'First step'

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls is expected to step up attacks on the coalition and urge David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne to change course in his speech to conference on Monday.

Labour remains committed to halving the deficit in four years and concedes there would be spending cuts if they were in power.

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Ed will lead the party in the way that he sees fit, with conviction and purpose - and that's right”

End Quote David Miliband Labour MP But Mr Miliband, who makes his big speech on Tuesday, and Mr Balls say money should be pumped into the economy at the same time to boost growth.

Mr Miliband told the BBC: "As a first step we say cut VAT. Keep to a plan to cut the deficit over four years but do it with growth because that's the only way you are going to achieve what you need to achieve.

He added: "There is an absence of leadership and I say to the prime minister 'put the politics aside, start showing some leadership'."

Brother's backing

Mr Miliband admitted the party faced a big challenge in winning back support at the ballot box.

But he insisted: "We are a party on the way back. There's a long way to go and I, more than anyone, know the scale of task.

"But, you know what's most important? I know who I am and I know where I want to take this country and that's what I'm going to be talking about this week."

And he received a vote of confidence from older brother David, who he beat to the party leadership by the narrowest of margins at last year's Labour conference.

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People will not trust us with power if they don't trust us with money”

End Quote Liam Byrne Shadow work and pensions secretary Arriving at the conference centre, in Liverpool's rejuvenated dockside area, David Miliband told BBC News: "Ed will lead the party in the way that he sees fit, with conviction and purpose - and that's right."

David Miliband confirmed he would be in the US when his brother makes his leader's speech to the conference on Tuesday.

He said it was important he was here on Sunday evening - speaking at a fringe meeting - because "it's very important that all members of the Labour Party rally behind our cause and I'm here to support the leadership".

'Fiscal realists'

Shadow work and pensions secretary Liam Byrne, who is in charge of the party's policy review, said Labour needed to seize the centre ground of British politics - and regain economic credibility.

He told a fringe meeting organised by Labour group Progress: "People will not trust us with power if they don't trust us with money.

"We have to be fiscal realists. We have to be a party, like the government, that says we want to bring the deficit down, but the fiscally realistic thing right now is to get our country back working."

Shadow communities minister Caroline Flint said Labour had "not been comfortable talking about efficiency and saving money".

She said people had come to associate the Conservatives with talk about value for money, adding: "We need to reclaim that ground."

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Tessa Jowell told the meeting people were "just not listening" to Labour because they were focused on "the financial anxieties of managing from one day to the next".

She also said the party had to understand that "people are much more sceptical and much more hostile about the idea of the state spending money on their behalf".

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Foster's urges rejection of bid

18 August 2011 Last updated at 06:57 GMT Foster's has been the subject of takeover talks since it split its beer and wine business Foster's, Australia's largest brewer, has recommended that its shareholders reject SABMiller's latest takeover bid, saying it "undervalues" the firm.

The board of Foster's had rejected SAB's initial 9.5bn Australian dollars ($10bn; £6.1bn) offer back in June, saying then that it was too low.

Since then SABMiller has gone hostile, saying it intends to make a second offer, direct to Foster's shareholders.

Foster's has been the subject of takeover rumours since last year.

"The board of Foster's, together with its advisers, has carefully considered the proposed offer and intends to unanimously recommend shareholders reject the offer," Foster's said.

"The board of Foster's reiterates its belief that an offer price of A$4.90 per share significantly undervalues the company in the context of a change of control."

SAB, which owns brands such as Grolsch and Peroni, had said the bid was attractive and should be put to shareholders.

It must gain the acceptance of at least 90% of Foster's shareholders for the takeover attempt to succeed.

There have been talks of a takeover of Foster's since it announced plans to break itself into two parts last year.

The brewer spun-off its troubled wine business, which had been seen as deterring potential suitors.

Any purchase of Foster's by SAB will not include the Foster's lager brand in the UK and Europe, where it is owned by Heineken.

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Osborne urges euro debt response

21 July 2011 Last updated at 08:41 GMT

Mr Osborne has said the UK cannot insulate itself from the eurozone's problems George Osborne has urged eurozone members to "get a grip" on the sovereign debt crisis plaguing Europe to prevent it spreading further.

The chancellor told the Financial Times unless action was taken there was the risk of economic damage on the scale caused by the 2008 banking crisis.

He was speaking before countries using the single currency hold a crunch meeting to discuss the Greek crisis.

Germany and France said they had agreed a common position on how to handle it.

If Greece's financial problems are not stabilised, there are fears of a wider "contagion" with concerns about the capacity of countries such as Italy and Spain to restructure their debts.

'Very worried'

The UK is not a member of the eurozone and Mr Osborne is not attending the meeting.

While he told the FT he was optimistic that the 17 eurozone members would make progress on the challenges facing them, he stressed the dangers of not doing so were considerable.

"We see the potential for a set of economic events that could be as damaging as 2008," he said.

"I am very worried. This building (Treasury) is very worried and this government is very worried."

While not contributing to eurozone bail-outs of Greece and Portugal, the government has consistently stressed that a stable eurozone is in the UK's interest - as 40% of the UK's trade is with Europe.

Mr Osborne acknowledged that despite not being in the single currency area, the UK could not be insulated from the problems in the eurozone.

"The economic situation is tough. We face a lot of difficult economic situations at the moment with the eurozone, with America.

"Britain was already carrying some heavy weights on the road to recovery. We had the deepest banking crisis, the biggest deficit. Now added to that have been some additional weights on our journey from abroad. That is not an excuse, it is an explanation."

The eurozone is looking at ways for the private sector to take a bigger role in supporting Greece's debts - potentially by expanding the bail-out package to include the purchase of Greek bonds.

Amid calls from within the eurozone for greater fiscal integration to help struggling economies, Mr Osborne said there was a "remorseless logic" to this and the idea of issuing eurozone bonds was "worthy of serious consideration".

'More active role'

But he stressed the UK would not be taking part in any eurozone financial solutions.

"Britain's taxpayers stand behind the pound. Europe's taxpayers are going to have to stand behind the euro," the chancellor said.

Labour has said that the UK should be playing the role of "honest broker" in eurozone discussions.

"The British government should not be saying it is a eurozone problem because this affects the British interest," said shadow chancellor Ed Balls.

And former Labour chancellor Alistair Darling said eurozone leaders needed to come up with a "convincing" response not a short-term fix to stop the problems spreading.

"You can see a real calamity facing us," he told the BBC.

"If America has problems and starts getting downrated in relation to its credit, we have got this continuing problem in Europe and you already have got very sluggish growth in this country.

"This is going to have a real impact ... and I do think our government ought to have been playing a more active role in encouraging our partners in Europe to sort this problem out.

"This is something we can quite properly do even though we are not a member of the eurozone."

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