Miliband relieves the pressure

After last week’s performance and this weekend’s headlines, Ed Miliband needed a win at PMQs — and he got one. Knowing that David Cameron would attack him over the fact Labour will vote against the welfare reform bill this week, Miliband had a string of questions for the Prime Minister on the detail of the bill and whether people recovering from cancer would lose the contributory element of their benefits. The issue was both wonky and emotive.

The fact the questions were about cancer meant that Cameron couldn’t deliver his usual string of put downs to Miliband. Indeed, when one Tory backbencher heckled him, the Labour leader shot back that ‘it’s a disgrace that Conservative members are shouting as we talk about cancer.’ By the end of the session, Miliband had scored a clear points victory as Cameron struggled to answer his detailed, technical question.

Miliband and his team clearly knew what was at stake today.