A day in the race: June 22nd

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Today the leadership race was overshadowed by the emergency budget – which dominated the time, and media appearances, of the candidates. However, one candidate did manage to make the headlines for another reason today – after being accused by Paddy Ashdown of killing off the chance of a Labour/Lib Dem coalition.

DAVID MILIBAND was accused today of killing off the possibility of a Labour/Lib Dem coalition by Paddy Ashdown. Speaking to Radio 5, the former Lib Dem leader lashed out at Miliband, saying:

“If there is a single person who is responsible for the fact that the possibility, slim though it was, of a Liberal Democrat/Labour coalition was killed it is David Miliband.”

“I sent a message to him in the last hours of the negotiation saying: if you want to revive this you have to come out and say you are committed to it.”

“He refused to take part in any of the negotiations which might have made this possible.

Ashdown went as far as to say that, “if there is a single person who is responsible for the fact that we now have a Conservative Government it is actually David Miliband.”

The Miliband campaign said that David was not part of the negotiating team, and that the Lib Dems were looking to deflect attention from today’s budget.

Speaking after the budget today, David was forceful in his condemnation of the Lib Dems – referring to Nick Clegg as the “nodding dog” of government, and labelling today’s events as, “A give with one hand punch with the other Budget.” He has called on his supporters to sign up to a broken promises campaign, attacking the coalition government.

ED BALLS described today’s measures as an “unemployment budget” and that “VAT rise and spending cuts mean unemployment forecast will be 100,000 a year higher.” Balls has also ramped up his “VAT bombshell” campaign in light of today’s announcement:

“Nick Clegg said vote Liberal Democrat to stop a Tory VAT bombshell. But the Liberal Democrats have now delivered the unfair VAT bombshell they campaigned against.”

“The fight for fairness starts now. Our campaign to stop the VAT bombshell goes on.”

ED MILIBAND emailed supporters today and said this is “judgement week for Liberal Democrats“. Miliband is inviting supporters to email Nick Clegg and Simon Hughes, saying “collusion” in this budget is “a betrayal of the causes you pledged to fight for during the election campaign.”

Ed Miliband also attacked the coalition on rising unemployment. Speaking to BBC news, he said that:

“The government’s own figures today say that it’s going to put up unemployment by 60,000 and lead to a hundred thousand less people in work every year of the forecast period in the coming few years.”

Ed is out delivering leaflets in Simon Hughes’ constituency this evening. You can download the leaflets from his website.

DIANE ABBOTT, although less noticeable in the campaign than she was yesterday, still managed to come up with today’s best line on the budget, saying that the Lib Dems “bottled it”, and that:

“The only thing they got out if it is cheaper cider.”

On the budget itself, Abbott said, “It’s a regressive budget… VAT is a regressive tax.”

She’s showing herself to be media savvy (as we all suspected based on her second career as a TV pundit) – but Abbott’s organisation is still lacklustre – as her (still) empty website shows.

ANDY BURNHAM wasn’t on the radar today – as is often the case on days when there are no hustings organised. His website is still very short of content, and Burnham didn’t appear as a talking head on any of the major news channels today. It’s unclear whether or not this is a deliberate strategy from the Burnham camp – but at the moment it looks like Burnham isn’t interested in making a media splash, or his message isn’t getting through to the press. As Diane Abbott begins to engage more online – and build on her already impressive media profile, Burnham will need to work hard to stay viable in this race and avoid being left behind.