Question Time hustings: Live Blog

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

11.35: And that’s it. The hustings are over. They started back on June 7th, and they end here tonight on September 16th. If you haven’t decided how to vote….you don’t have long left. Stay tuned. I’ll be giving you my snap verdict on this last hustings in a few moments.

11.32: If you could evict one fellow candidate, who would it be? Diane Abbott won’t pick anyone, Ed Miliband says they’re a team, they aren’t his enemies (and that he loves one of the panel very much), David gets a laugh for saying that he didn’t realise Ed loved Diane. Ed Balls says they’ve all wanted to be released at some point – but they’ve never had to dress like a cat…Andy Burnham says they’re all friends.

In other words, they all avoided the question, but they all came across well enough doing it…

11.31: Diane Abbott says Iraq was an illegal war and that Labour must stick to international law in future – those are our principles…

11.29: David Miliband adopts a very sombre tone while discussing Iraq and the middle east. He says if he’d known then what he knows now he’d not have voted for war. He’s clearly given it a lot of thought though – he knows how many pages Hans Blix’s report on the topic was (174).

11.25: The interplay between the Miliband brothers has turned a little sour here over Iraq. Diane Abbott is trying to force Ed Miliband to be critical of his brother here and open up a divide. Ed is trying to close the discussion, but David Miliband looks frustrated, tapping his pen on the table.

11.22: The debate has become bogged down in the individual circumstances of one audience member – a London firefighter. David Miliband asks to speak to her afterwards and refuses to be drawn on what his view on the strike is.

11.19: Perhaps the biggest cheer of the night for Ed Miliband as he calls for the bankers to pay for the financial crisis. It’s brazen populism, but it’s got the response he’ll have wanted.

11.18: Ed Miliband and Andy Burnham raising their voices at each other – Andy Burnham lashes out and says we need to be credible. That’s the biggest flare up so far tonight.

11.15: Labour should make the “moral case” for tax playing a greater role in deficit reduction, says Andy Burnham. Ed Balls comes back to building houses – a plan he first unveiled on LabourList…

11.13: We should be building houses, not cutting houses, building schools not cutting schools says Ed Balls. Andy Burnham says that we can’t campaign against every cut and every job lost – but it’s the speed and severity that’s the problem.

11.11: Ed Balls says David Cameron should be responsible and get people around the table over strikes. Which gets a concerted round of applause.

11.07: Unions section was dealt with well by the candidates – stuck to sensible lines on the union link, strikes etc. Ed Miliband does well to link the issues behind strikes to wider issues.

11.04: Now it’s unions. This cold be difficult for the candidates in the current climate. How will they balance this with the need for trade unionists votes?

11.02: David Miliband drives home his key message – unity. He’s clearly decided that he needs to play this card forcefully. Ed Miliband tries to ape his older brother – saying he has support from Frank Field to Frank Dobson

10.57: Andy Burnham echoes what Ed Balls has been saying in recent days about not being scared of the right wing press. Now moving on to his strong suit, the national care service…

10.55: Andy Burnham has been isolated in this debate so far, can’t remember him being involved.

10.54: Neither Miliband brother is very comfortable when they’re asked to define themselevs against each other in left/right terms. Ed Miliband trys to drag the discussion towards change – and gets a round of applause for his efforts.

10.52: David Miliband says the manifesto “didn’t inspire”, which is surprising as he has defended it in the past. Is this a covert attack on brother Ed?

10.50: Ed Miliband says he doesn’t think Blair should have gone sooner – if I remember rightly there are accounts that would dispute that. Diane Abbott says she wasn’t keen on Blair anyway – and then gets a big round of applause by attacking the other candidates – saying they were in government the whole time. Diane’s strategy is crystal clear now.

10.48: It already seems clear that some lines are getting applause from half of the audience – but which half? The Labour side or the opposition side…?

10.45: Ten years is plenty for any of us says David Miliband – but firmly says no when Dimbleby suggests New Labour had come to an end after ten years.

10.43: Diane Abbott attacks Blair and brings up the Iraq war in her first answer. It gets applause, and this looks like it might be Diane’s strategy..

10.42: Did Labour lose because we weren’t New Labour enough? David Miliband says that’s not right and wants to look to the future – Ed Balls says we went wrong in the 2nd term when it turned “public good, private bad”

10.40: Dimbleby says this is a crucial time in the race, and that tonight’s performance could be crucial. Half of the audience are Labour supporters, and half are from other political parties – didn’t see that one coming…

10.35: While you’re waiting for the hustings to start, why not take a look at our coverage of today “In the race“.

10.30: The final hustings of the leadership contest – it seems like a long time since our live blog from the first hustings at the GMB, because that was a long time ago…

We’ll be live blogging the final leadership hustings live from 10.30pm tonight as the candidates face off against each other on Question Time. Who will come out on top? Who will best survive the grilling from Dimbleby and the audience. I’ve already had my say on who I think is best placed to come out of tonight well – but what do you think?

Also, make sure you’re following us on twitter for the debate tonight, both me (@markfergusonuk) and LabourList (@labourlist) will be bringing you the latest reactions and opinion as the hustings unfolds.