Ed Miliband rules out future Clegg cooperation
By politics.co.uk staff
Ed Miliband has said he will refuse to work with Nick Clegg in the event of a future hung parliament.
The Labour leadership contender said he would insist on Mr Clegg’s resignation as leader of the Liberal Democrats before entering into talks with Britain’s third party.
“Given what he is supporting, I think it is pretty hard to go into coalition with him,” Mr Miliband said in an interview with the New Statesman magazine.
Labour figures including the shadow energy and climate change secretary have hit out at the Lib Dems for joining the Conservatives in a formal coalition arrangement. Mr Miilband said he believed there is a “lot of disquiet” among Lib Dems and predicted next May’s local elections “will be bad for them”.
Mr Miliband was one of Labour’s negotiators during May’s high-pressured talks to form a Lib-Lab coalition, which many had expected before the 2010 general election.
The Lib Dems blamed Labour for refusing to compromise on significant parts of their manifesto for the collapse of discussions, despite efforts from figures like Andrew Adonis to bring the parties together.
Now Mr Miliband is focused on fighting the Lib Dems. He added: “I think there are a lot of people out there who can be won back to our cause – I want to win back Tory voters, but I want to win back Liberal Democrat voters, too.
“And they would come back to us, but only if we have the right formula for the future – and that’s about a progressive economic policy, but also about defending liberties and putting civil liberties at the centre of what the party cares about.”
