Ed Miliband’s speech: the backlash begins

In his Guardian column tomorrow, Jonathan Freedland writes that Ed Miliband reckons he’ll “get a kicking from the Daily Telegraph” for his lurch to the left, but his ‘gamble’ is that he’ll survive it. The Times and the Daily Mail have not given his remarkable speech much of a better reception (above). All three newspapers can see what’s at stake here: a very dangerous principle, dug out of its 1970s grave and held up for applause at the Labour Party conference. It is now okay for a PM to govern by issuing edicts to private companies and having them do what he wants.

Today, Miliband has said his government would issue two kinds of threats. One is to property companies: ‘build more houses, or we’ll confiscate your land!’. The other is to energy companies: ‘keep your electricity prices at the level we tell you!’ Both will be popular with the public, but both can have profound consequences and could cripple investment.