You are here: Home » Archives »

Ed Balls will fight on

July 25, 2010 2:05 pm

Author:

Share this Article

Ed BallsBy Mark Ferguson / @MarkFergusonUK

In an email to supporters today, Ed Balls has denied claims in the Telegraph and elsewhere that he is quitting the race to become Labour’s next leader.

Rumours had circulated that Balls was ready to leave the contest after Unite backed Ed Miliband yesterday, perhaps to back David Miliband.

But Balls is unequivocal in his email:

“Given the claim that I am considering quitting the leadership contest and backing one of the other candidates, I wanted to deal directly and personally with the speculation.

I’ve never been a front runner in this campaign, I did not have the early organisation of some other candidates and I am behind on formal CLP and union endorsements.

But the votes which count won’t be cast until September. The Labour Leadership will be decided by millions of individual members of the party, the unions and socialist societies all making their own decisions – many of whom have not yet made up their minds.

And I have assembled a brilliant campaign team of MPs, activists, volunteers and individual trade union members who – with the support of the CWU executive – have helped me land the first blows on this wretched coalition government by taking the fight to them on VAT, free school meals and the school building programme.

So my message to local party activists, councillors and union members is this: I am fighting to defend the jobs and front line public services in your local communities; I will carry on fighting to stop unfair tax rises and the withdrawal of essential benefits; I will carry on fighting to defeat a coalition hell-bent on cutting public services, putting up VAT, cancelling new schools and turning recovery into a double-dip recession.”

As Balls says, he’s not the favourite in this campaign, but he’s shown himself to be a capable battler, and he’s surprised me and others with the tone of his fight.

Related posts:

  1. CWU backs Ed Balls
  2. Ed Balls: 29 days and counting – and a lot to fight for
  3. Balls tackles quit rumours head on
  4. Good interview with Ed Balls in today’s G2
  5. Balls: We must rebuild by reconnecting in the communities we serve

Comments are closed

Latest

  • Comment Boris Johnson: All Promise, No Delivery

    Boris Johnson: All Promise, No Delivery

    By Murad Qureshi

    Boris Johnson has made a great deal about his green initiatives – from cycle hire to electric vehicles. But as has been well documented, the Mayor’s record leaves a lot to be desired. The cycle hire scheme has only been used by a fraction of Londoners and is costing the taxpayer millions despite a manifesto promise it would be free. His record on electric vehicles is even weaker. Johnson announced with much fanfare at the Seoul C40 Climate Change Summit [...]

    Read more →
  • Comment Why should young people engage in politics?

    Why should young people engage in politics?

    Politics can often feel like something which is far removed from everyday life, and something which most young people don’t easily relate to. Yet if you’ve been a youth worker for any stretch of time, you’ll understand that youth work is political with a small ‘p’. It’s very much about engaging young people to enable them to make positive decisions for themselves as well as giving them the skills to be able to interact positively with the world around them. [...]

    Read more →
  • Featured North-South Divide Widens – is it time for a North of England Assembly?

    North-South Divide Widens – is it time for a North of England Assembly?

    By Cat Smith

    A report published this week by the Local Data Company on the number of empty shops on our high streets highlights further the North-South divide, as well the dire economic situation many small and medium sized businesses are in. The highest number of shuttered shops was counted in Stockport where more than 30% are now empty, according to the study of 700 British town centres. The shopping parades of the South and West fared best with Taunton, Salisbury and St [...]

    Read more →
  • Comment Local Government Local government finance – not sexy, but important

    Local government finance – not sexy, but important

    By Rory Palmer

    Local government finance is not the sexiest subject in the world, nor will it get many frontpage headlines. It’s not just the pace and scale of the coalition’s cuts which is hitting local government hard. Uncertainty created by a raft of other council finance proposals is causing real difficulty for town halls across the country. The cuts are savage and deliberately front-loaded, hitting local government disproportionately. Councils with higher levels of need are taking bigger hits, and as town halls [...]

    Read more →
  • Comment Featured Ashcroft Warned the Tories About the Health Bill a Year Ago

    Ashcroft Warned the Tories About the Health Bill a Year Ago

    By Neil Foster

    Over the last 12 months Michael Ashcroft has been conducting a range of focus groups and polling on how the Conservative Party can build a majority in a 2015 general election. They should be required reading for all involved in understanding public opinion and the electoral terrain. His ‘Wake Up and Smell The Coffee’ study had a significant albeit delayed impact on his party encouraging it to modernise, reposition itself and neutralise a number of ‘toxic’ issues for the party. [...]

    Read more →