Ed Miliband has a speech billed as his make-or-break fightback proof-I’d-make-a-great-PM tomorrow morning. In truth, it’s rarely right to bill one political speech as The fightback, at least in voters’ minds, but the Labour leader does need to show that he hasn’t been crushed by the past few weeks – and reassure his party sufficiently for them to fight with him. His speech will be followed by ‘interventions’ from Ed Balls, Yvette Cooper, Chuka Umunna and Tristram Hunt in the next few days.
To realise the first aim, Miliband has given an interview to Nick Robinson in which he produces that dreadful phrase ‘they say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and that’s true’, which a lot of people could tell him isn’t true, either physically or politically, but you can see where he’s going anyway.
The pre-briefed extracts of the speech show Miliband talking about a ‘zero-zero’ economy, which is the new phase of his cost-of-living crisis thesis in which he argues that though wages have started to grow again, the economy is still structured in the wrong way. He’ll say:
‘Our country only works for the privileged few today, not for most people. That is not just a slogan or some theoretical idea, it is rooted in the real lives of people in every part of our country.
‘People asking why are they being told there is a recovery when they aren’t feeling the benefits, people working so hard but not being rewarded, young people fearing that they are going to have a worse life than their parents, people making a decent living but still unable to afford to buy a house, people who worry that one of the foundation stones of their security – the NHS – is under threat.
‘And people asking why they are on zero-hours contracts while those at the top get away with zero tax. This zero-zero economy is a symptom of a deeply unequal, deeply unfair, deeply unjust country; a country I am determined to change.
‘We know what we’re fighting for. We are fighting for a country that works for everyday people, and not just a privileged few; a recovery that works for you and your family; the next generation doing better than the last; and the NHS there when you need it.’
Zero hours contracts and the NHS: two catnip issues for Labour activists, but as far as we can see tonight, no new announcements. That Miliband continues to pursue the cost-of-living angle and that he talked about the ‘Victorian’ conditions for many workers suggests that he’s thinking of those voters in marginal seats who may be tempted to vote Labour simply because they cannot see their lives getting any better under the Tories.
What looks more interesting is what Miliband has to say about the battle he’s been fighting over the past few weeks. In his speech he’ll say:
‘We’re in a fight, but not because our opponents think we’re destined to lose. We are in a fight because they know we can win. And, between now and the election, they are going to use every tactic to try to destabilise, distract us and throw us off course. Our task is simple: not to be distracted, but to keep our eyes on the prize of changing this country.’
And he told Nick Robinson:
‘I think, first of all, that you’ve got to be in touch with what people are feeling throughout the country, you can’t be somebody that represents just a few people in society, which I believe that our Prime Minister, the current Prime Minister, is. Secondly, you’ve got to be willing to fight, even when powerful forces, whether they are energy companies or banks try to take you on, and thirdly you’ve got to have big ideas to change Britain and I do.’
This idea of ‘powerful forces’ harks back to some of Miliband’s best moments such as the phone hacking inquiry and the energy price freeze. There is a risk it could, if he develops it in the wrong way in his speech, make him look a bit like a conspiracy theorist. But he likes and seems to suit a David vs Goliath theme for his politics (even if David isn’t the most helpful name in the circumstances), and right now, Miliband needs to behave in a way that makes him appear comfortable.
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