Miliband's five easy steps to power

on 03/10/2012 22:01:27

Labour leader Ed Miliband tonight laid out his "five easy steps" to winning the next General Election as he claimed the party had the "wind in its sails".

Mr Miliband said his new project would outlive him as leader and probably the party's next chief as well, as he warned activists to remain sober in its efforts to regain power in 2015.

The Labour leader said he suffered a "big trauma" in 1992 when then leader Neil Kinnock lost out to Tory Prime Minister John Major in the General Election.

He said the party had to change the country as Margaret Thatcher had done back in the 1980s as he urged young delegates to remain "disciplined and united" while taking "the fight to the Tories".

Speaking at a Young Labour event at the Labour party conference in Manchester tonight, he said: "The really important thing to say is that the reason we have put ourselves in the place that we have is because we have remained united as a party.

"History is an ugly thing when it comes to Labour in opposition. We are bucking the trend.

"Two years in, half way through, I would say the job is half done. We have got to be sober about this."

He added: "But here is the next two and a half years and you are incredibly important to this and this is five easy steps to General Election victory.

"First easy step is: stay united, disciplined and united. That is absolutely imperative for us as a party and I know we will.

"Secondly, keep taking the fight to the Tories and Lib Dems.

"Thirdly, show people how we are going to change the country. That's what we have done this week.

"When people young people say to you 'Well, what difference would Labour make?', tell them: 'Day one of Ed Miliband as Prime Minister we get our young people back to work in this country'.

"Fourthly, we show how we how we are going to change this country profoundly.

"Let me be frank about this. This is a project which we are starting out on which will outlive me as leader and probably the next leader as well.

"This is a big project. When Mrs Thatcher came along in the 1970s and said she wanted to change British society, it was a big long-term project which took a long time and it is this scale of change that the country needs.

"You are absolutely essential to this."

Mr Miliband said delegates needed to be out in force for the by-election in Corby and the Police and Crime Commissioner elections in November.

He added: "Parties face the trauma of defeat. My big trauma was the 1992 election defeat. It is hard to escape the shadow of defeat because you think that's what happened in 1992. Well that was 20 years ago, some of you weren't even born.

"Final thing, spirit of the country. Incredibly important. Somebody said in shadow cabinet a few months ago that we talk about programmes and policies but we don't talk about the spirit of the country.

"We have got to talk about the spirit of the Olympics, not because we want to use it for partisan ends but because it says something about the spirit of our country.

"There is the will in this country for a different kind of country.

"When the Tories gather next week, let's be frank about this, they are now going to have to respond to our challenge.

"Are they going to fight on the One Nation territory that we have laid out? Or are they going to shy away from it?

"Are they going to try and answer our charges about fairness and who we are helping in this country or are they are not?

"That is a good position to be because the wind is in our sails but we must now we are heading in the right direction. We must carry on and step up the fight."