A day in the race: June 30th

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

It’s been a relatively quiet day on LabourList, but not in the Labour leadership contest.

DAVID MILIBAND gave a speech on the future of comprehensive education today in Bristol, in which he outlined the two markers by which he would want his schools policies as Labour leader to be judged:

“Do they raise standards and do they narrow the social class achievement gap?”

Miliband’s full speech can be read on LabourList here.

David M. also wrote a blogpost on the Tories’ plans to scrap the police pledge, in which the former foreign secretary wrote:

“This is nothing but a cynical exercise which will leave communities to fend for themselves while using the language of cutting ‘waste’ and ‘bureaucracy’ as cover for an irrational opposition to sensible target-setting. Labour introduced the policing pledge to increase the accountability of local police, to give citizens a clear sense of how their local justice system should be performing and to ensure that policing priorities were agreed in partnership with local people.”

David Miliband is also taking the fight to the coalition now. He’s collected over 1,500 co-signatories to his letter “The CONservative Budget: 5 big CONS” to all Lib Dem and Tory MPs, requesting that they all vote against the budget.

There’s also been a sudden flurry of activity on DIANE ABBOTT‘s website today, with not one, or even two, but three new blogposts: one announced the support of Cambridge Universities Labour Club; one announced the support of the campaign for Labour Party Democracy; and there was also one real one in which Abbott “reflects on aspects of the campaign”:

“Attending hustings across the country has definitely been one of my highlights of the campaign as it has allowed me to visit Labour Party members, trade union members, Labour supporters and well wishers alike from across the country. At a moment of economic crisis leadership campaign has provided the perfect opportunity to reach out to other parts of the country and hear first hand accounts of how the Lib-Con Cuts will offer ordinary people. In any general election campaign I have ever fought, I have always campaigned vigorously: knocking on doors and speaking to constituents seven days a week. This campaign has been no different. I have travelled the length and breadth of this country from Oxford and Newcastle to Leicester and Glasgow, and shall be visiting members in Cardiff this weekend.”

ED BALLS responded angrily to Andrew Lansley’s criticism of Jamie Oliver’s work in recent years on improving the nutritional value of school meals. Lansley had said that Oliver’s initiatives “haven’t worked”, and that government should offer children what they want to eat, rather than what is good for them. Balls said:

“Andrew Lansley’s comments are a smack in the face for Jamie Oliver, Mary Turner and all those who have worked so hard in recent years to expand the right of children to enjoy free and healthy school meals. He is also totally wrong about the impact of Jamie Oliver’s campaign. As a result of his work, hundreds of school kitchens and canteens up and down the country have been transformed, the quality of food on offer has improved out of all recognition, and children and schools are taking a much greater interest in how to eat healthily…I know this Tory-Liberal government want to justify their reckless decision to slash spending on school food, free school meals and public health programmes, but to distort the truth about Jamie Oliver’s campaign is not acceptable.”

Balls has been running a campaign to save free school meals for a few weeks now as part of his leadership bid, and one of Balls’ great strengths so far in the contest has been to speak – with real passion, and often sadness – against some of the coalition’s plans that will hurt the poorest the most.

Continuing that theme, Balls also responded to today’s speech by Ken Clarke, in which the justice secretary said fewer people should be sent to prison. Balls again criticised Tory priorities in their budget-slashing:

“Ken Clarke is right when he says that prison isn’t the only solution to crime in our communities. I hear it on the doorstep all the time – positive activities for young people are front and centre in the fight against crime. But it is sheer brass neck for Ken Clarke to use this rhetoric to excuse prison cuts when his government is, this year alone, cutting £311m from council budgets for youth activities, tackling teen pregnancy and drugs misuse and which puts at risk non-negotiable support through family intervention projects. It’s implausible to think we can continue cutting crime if we’re abandoning the fight against the causes of crime in towns and cities”.

ED MILIBAND flew to Edinburgh this morning for a meeting with Edinburgh councillors and trade union and party members in the surrounding Lothian councils. After the meetings, Miliband huddled with local press and TV journalists, to talk about his ideas on the role of the state, based on his speech yesterday, before a meeting with Members of the Scottish Parliament

Last night, Ed Miliband and Ed Balls enjoyed a drink in a local pub with Labour supporters after the Oxford hustings. They’ll also be appearing at hustings in Lambeth tonight.

ANDY BURNHAM is still feeling the disappointment of England’s defeat on Sunday, and blames the Premier League’s “rampant commercialism” for England’s abject failure. Burnham, formerly sports minister, told BBC Radio 5 Live today:

“I think [England managers] are dealing with the symptoms of a dysfunctional domestic game. We agonise and ask ‘why didn’t they do this?’ or ‘why didn’t they do that?’ but we don’t get underneath the structural flaws in English football.”

“I think money has poisoned our national game. The game has rampant commercialism, we have put money before the sport and we are reaping the dividends of that.

“We must choose whether we want the best league in the world or whether we want the best national team in the world. That is essentially the choice. We are paying players from around the world to come here and develop their skills while their own domestic leagues bring on the next generation when our players can’t get into starting line-ups.

“Since the Premier League was created we have had commercial forces running riot, fans priced out of going to football, money going out of the top of the game and not benefiting grass roots. It has to change and I will keep saying it until there is some reaction.”

Crueller observers than I might ask whether Burnham’s words are a metaphor for his analysis of economic policy, or a substitute for it. We’ll hopefully have more of Andy later in the week.