A day in the race: June 26th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

As has been the case every Saturday throughout the leadership campaign, hustings dominated today’s timetable. As today’s hustings were held in Newcastle and Middlesborough, issues relating to the North East were much higher up the agenda than usual.

DAVID MILIBAND today released an open letter to NATO commander General Petreaus, in which he laid out his views on the Afghan mission. Miliband said:

“I know there is an argument over when the time is right to go down the political track, but in truth it has already begun. It is shaped and reshaped every day in the minds of the people. The job of the Afghan government, with our strong support, should be to define a political endgame that creates a stake for all those willing to live within the Afghan constitution – and then march towards it.”

Between hustings today David visited Hartlepool and took part in a rally against the abandonment of the North Tees hospital project. Meanwhile in London his campaign team took part in a phone bank with Blur drummer Dave Rowntree.

ED BALLS, in an interview published by the Guardian today, labelled Tory plans for education a “Trojan horse for selection”. Balls said:

“When I was schools secretary academies were always comprehensive schools. They couldn’t select by ability and they had to abide by a toughened up admissions code….What the Tories are proposing is a total perversion of that policy.”

“My real fear is that this is actually a Tory Trojan horse for the expansion of selection.”

Later whilst in the North East for hustings, Balls slammed Corus over their Teesside steel plant, and said that since they have no plans to use the plant, they should move forward with selling it.

Update: Ed was also present at the North Tees hospital demo this afternoon, where he was photographed demonstrating alongside Andy Burnham and David Miliband.

Update: Also spotted Diane Abbott in that photo too.

In an article for the Guardian this morning, ED MILIBAND laid out his plans for Higher Education. Ed said that he will be spending the coming months developing a graduate tax based plan for HE funding, saying:

“We need a new settlement to secure our higher education sector without placing an ever higher, ever more unfair and ever more unsustainable burden through tuition fees on students and their families when they can least afford it. Like many others who believe in progressive politics, I have been impressed by the case made by those who argue for a graduate tax to secure university funding. Studies have shown that such a levy, which would abolish fees but ask graduates to pay between 0.25% and 2% of their income over a 20-year period, could raise substantially more for universities than the current system.”

Tomorrow Ed will be in Burnley – a city where Labour lost an MP in May.

DIANE ABBOTT was on combative form at the first hustings of the day in Newcastle. Answering an early question from the audience on the future of New Labour, Diane replied:

“New Labour was never on the ballot paper.”

Her performance this morning echoed many of her earlier hustings appearances. However the official party hustings with the candidates sat on comfy sofas don’t seem to suit Diane as well as those stood behind podiums (perhaps ironically as Diane is best known for her easy manner on the This Week sofa).

Later Diane also took part in the North Tees hospital demo, and on Twitter she said of her day in the North East:

“Demo in Hartlepool. Hustings in Middlesborough. And now I am at Darlington Station waiting to go back to London. Really interesting day.”

ANDY BURNHAM was strong during hustings today when appealing to the audience about the gap between the North and the party in Westminster. He received a loud cheer (albeit against hustings rules) for saying:

“Lets have no more parachute candidates sent out from London.”

It could be said that Burnham was being blatantly populist here – as the northern candidate it is easy for him to say these things (even as a former SpAd). However a large part of these hustings is winning over those who haven’t already made up their minds. For these people, and in these settings, blatant populism might pay off.