Did he get cold feet? Or was his new spin-team overenthusiastic in their pre-briefing?
We were told we’d get an apology from Ed Miliband in today’s speech, but instead he entrenched himself in his position that Labour did nothing wrong on the deficit. I’m surprised at this decision.
Surely Ed Miliband understands, as his Shadow Chancellor understands, the central importance to an opposition party of economic credibility.
That credibility will not return while Miliband bases his economic argument on a denial of the facts.
First, and critically, he argues that Britain’s deficit was not a problem going into the crisis. Not only is this disputed by an impressive array of domestic and international experts, from Tony Blair to the European Commission and Mervyn King. Even before the crisis Labour’s deficit was breaking the very fiscal rules that Gordon Brown, and his then-adviser Ed Miliband, themselves introduced.
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