Prescott: Miliband looks like he is 'preparing for coalition'

Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has urged Ed Miliband to be bolder, claiming it looks as though the Labour leader has resigned himself to not winning the 2015 election outright.

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Labour grandee says party 'preparing for coalition'

Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has urged Ed Miliband to be bolder, claiming it looks as though the Labour leader has resigned himself to not winning the 2015 election outright.

Writing in his Sunday Mirror column, Lord Prescott said it looked as though Mr Miliband was only trying to woo traditional Labour voters and "a few ex-Lib Dem voters", rather than appealing to the whole electorate.

Lord Prescott urged Ed Miliband to be 'brave'. Credit: Martin Rickett/PA Wire

"He might as well have said at the end of his conference speech: 'Go back to your constituencies and prepare for coalition'," he argued.

The veteran of the Blair years contrasted a "flat" Labour conference with a "confident" performance from David Cameron at last week's Conservative conference.

He urged the Labour leader to "be brave" and go "all out for the win" in 2015 by quickly coming up with eye-catching policies.

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Miliband: Future Labour government would cut debt

Labour leader Ed Miliband said he may have missed bits out of his conference speech but he says a future Labour government would cut debt and would not increase borrowing.

ITV News Political Editor Tom Bradby reports

Miliband: Labour is prepared to make tough decisions

Ed Miliband has said his party would be prepared to make tough decisions about the economy ahead of next year's election, despite not mentioning Britain's deficit in his main party speech yesterday.

The Labour leader told ITV News: "None of the proposals in our manifesto will be funded by additional borrowing."

ITV News Political Editor Tom Bradby reports:

Labour 'would scrap PCCs to fund halt of refuge closures'

Labour would reverse cuts to the police planned for next year if it wins power in May, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has said.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper addresses delegates on the last day of the Labour Party conference in Manchester. Credit: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

The party would also scrap police and crime commissioners (PCC) to pay to protect women's refuges.

In every part of the country refuges and services for women and children suffering from domestic violence are being closed due to the callous attitude of this Government.

Theresa May's failure to act means victims are being left with no support and being abandoned.

Refuges provide vital support for women and children. Local specialist services that have a track record of successfully helping women and children need our support and that's what we will do.

– Yvette Cooper

Miliband: We can change country with big reform not spending

Ed Miliband has defended his plans to increase spending without any extra borrowing.

Speaking to ITV News Political Editor Tom Bradby the Labour leader said:

We can raise the minimum wage to £8, it actually saves money on the benefits bill. We can properly fund our NHS, £2.5 billion more by raising taxes on some of the richest in our society... We can make changes to apprenticeships using business and actually using money better than we spend it at the moment.

I don't buy the argument that we can't change our country because we're not spending lots more. I think we can change our country with big reform not big spending.

– Ed Miliband

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Miliband: No manifesto pledges will be funded with extra borrowing

Ed Miliband has said that no Labour proposals in their manifesto will be funded by extra borrowing.

Speaking to ITV News Political Editor Tom Bradby about the economy questions for the next election the Labour leader said:

Clearly part of it is also clearing the deficit, which is why we said yesterday in relation to our NHS proposals we're not going to borrow a penny more to pay for it, indeed none of our proposals in our manifesto will be paid for by additional borrowing.

– Ed Miliband

Miliband: We 'cannot turn away' from threat of IS

The UK "cannot turn away" from the threat posed by Islamic State (IS) as they are "a murderous organisation", Ed Miliband has said.

Speaking to Good Morning Britain, the Labour leader said he was "open" to British intervention but wanted to see proof the UK could make a legal, effective contribution.

Ed Miliband 'absolutely' forgot a portion of his speech

Ed Miliband "absolutely" forgot a section of his speech about the UK's deficit but defended his actions, saying the mistake "came with the territory" of committing it to memory.

The Labour party leader suggested to Good Morning Britain his process was more organic and he would use his prepared speech "as a basis of what I want to say to the country".

Miliband: Economy needs change to work for working people

Labour leader Ed Miliband has said that he did forget parts of his speech yesterday after he failed to mention the deficit during his conference speech, but added that the economy needed change.

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