An Evening with Ed Miliband

On Tuesday, in another event coinciding with the Labour Party’s Annual Conference in Manchester, Ed Miliband MP (and also Minister in the Cabinet Office and Labour’s Manifesto Coordinator), along with Lucy Powell, Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for Withington, came to Manchester University’s Students’ Union to discuss the future for the Labour Party and for Britain; he reminded people of the ‘big causes’ in society and why apathy is the biggest peril for political progress. During the one-hour discussion, more than a hundred students seized the opportunity to get answers from a politician at the heart of Labour’s campaign for a fourth-term. The event was hosted by Manchester Labour Students and the Politics Society.

Following an opening speech from Mike Joslin, the current Chair of Manchester Labour Students, Miliband began to explain why he is a member of the Labour party (and specifically not the Conservatives), saying that he believes “we do things better together than alone.” Miliband attempted to stick to his principles of making politics less distant by devoting most of his time to a Q&A session rather than a long winded speech. He claimed that “unfortunately, these days we tend to have ‘talk-not-listen’ politics. But not tonight” and claimed that politics really matters as only by getting involved we can genuinely change the things in society that we don’t like. Lucy Powell addressed the audience, saying that “this [event] is in a way more important than the Conference platform because you are Manchester’s future; you are the ones who help shape this city.”

Critical words were said right at the beginning of the talk, by both Miliband and the students in the audience. Miliband condemned the constant inequality in Britain’s society and appealed to the government’s responsibility to give equal opportunities to those from poorer backgrounds who are “just as clever but don’t have the money or contacts.” However throughout the evening the issue of climate change was repeatedly stressed as “biggest challenge of all” by Miliband. He explained that such challenges cannot be faced alone but need collective responsibility through strong government in order to be tackled together.

The Q&A session was kicked off by a student readdressing Miliband’s demand for collective responsibility, who wanted to know about Labour’s message for the next election campaign. The politician stressed again the ‘big causes’ in society including climate change and the promotion of social mobility but mainly responded with critical remarks about an anti-social form of capitalism supported by the Conservatives. Miliband said that this enhances Labour’s duty to “expose who the Tories really are”.

Miliband and Powell were also confronted with some students demanding a more ‘radical and less dithering’ approach by the party. When Miliband was asked about the tactics on how to recapture the zeal of the 1997 election, he highlighted Labour’s “right blend of experience and youth” and emphasised their ambition to promote more power for local government, pointing to the examples of Scotland and Wales.

Whilst party-related topics dominated most of the session, national issues including British troops in Iraq and minority issues such as LGBT rights were also part of the agenda. Unsurprisingly, students showed particular interest in tuition fees, reforms of the current funding system and Labour’s attitude to student demonstrations. When asked his opinion on student protests and police responses, a likely reference to the Reclaim the Uni protest held in April, The 39-year-old politician Miliband said he was supportive of protests in general as a form of making voices heard: “Politics is too important to leave it to the politicians. Change only happens when people demand it.” Giving credit to South African activist Steve Biko and his perseverance to fight apartheid, he warned the young academics not to succumb to apathy but to stay involved in politics “because it massively shapes our world and people’s chances in it”. Many students welcomed such enthusiasm: “He was witty and down to earth. Would almost make me vote Labour by himself,” said Politics student Joseph Sanders.

View all photos from this event.
Photography credits Andre Buenacosa.