A day in the race: September 17th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

With only five days of voting left in the leadership contest, this will be the last “day in the race” update of the campaign. However the spirit of these updates will live on – they’ll be back in some form over Labour Party conference before returning in October. Every evening next week, we’ll be reviewing a different leadership campaign – so keep an eye out for that…

DAVID MILIBAND emailed supporters today with what could be his final appeal of the campaign, and outlined the politician he’d most like to beat:

“We are a party determined to show that whilst we lost in May, we are not beaten. A party that knows it can buck the trend, not disappear into the obscurity of opposition for a decade. A party that will not give up, but will fight to win.”

“And now, with voting closing next Wednesday, we’re into the final week. And we have to decide who can win for Britain.”

“Every candidate in this contest claims that they are going to win, it’s what you do in campaigns.”

“But ask me who I’d most like to beat and there is no contest – it’s David Cameron.”

This morning he was interviewed for the Today programme, and said his relationship with his brother won’t be like Blair/Brown because:

“We know the cost of division, we have a similar sense of commitment to the Labour Party and because we’ve had an election.””

There was also a flurry of announcements from David – on constitutional reform, animal welfare and the British Legion.

ED MILIBAND wrote for LabourList today on the need for Labour to lead on the living wage:

“No one who does a hard day’s work should have to live in poverty. A Living Wage – where people are paid at least enough to live on – is needed in Britain today, and I have put it at the heart of my campaign for the Labour leadership.”

“We introduced the national minimum wage soon after entering government. It was radical for its time. Some people said it couldn’t be done, and that it would ‘cost jobs’. But we made it happen; we put our Labour values into action to give millions of people a decent wage for the first time. Wages went up, unemployment went down and our economy and society prospered.”

“But that was more than ten years ago. The world has now changed, and we have to change with it – and we have to be prepared to be radical again. For many low-paid workers, facing rising living costs, the minimum wage is no longer enough. I want to make the Living Wage a reality for the millions whose work is currently undervalued – to make work pay.”

ED BALLS was in his constituency today, where he recorded the following video for LabourList readers:

Ed also wrote an article for Tribune today, in which he appeared to be making a firm pitch for the shadow chancellor post (although he’ll never admit it) saying:

“Cameron, Osborne and Clegg do not seem to be in any mood for compromise, so their rush for deep cuts now cannot simply be economic ignorance. The truth the coalition dare not speak is that their agenda is being driven not by economic evidence but a right-wing ideology. Whipping up hysteria about the deficit and claiming there is no alternative to their actions is a convenient cover for a political project to permanently roll back the state.”

“This makes it all the more necessary to expose the economic and social dangers of what the coalition is building up to with its savage spending review next month – and to win the case for a credible Labour alternative. We must do so with credibility, passion and urgency.”

Ed also picked up the support of another MP today, as Lindsay Hoyle moved his support over to Balls from Burnham.

ANDY BURNHAM was interviewed by politics.co.uk today, and turned on critics who have questioned his experience:

“I’ve never called myself the northern candidate – but I do talk from my experience, always.”

“Politics is suffering from a sense that people read everything off a pager, a script, or drawn from a very narrow social caste, a small elite. What motivates me very much comes from my life experience.”

“I did some of the toughest beats in British politics.”

“I sometimes feel a little frustrated, I’ve heard it on this campaign trail – has he got the experience? I’ve done as tough if not tougher jobs than all of my contenders.”

DIANE ABBOTT seems to have had a quieter day today after last night’s performance on Question Time. Her team are still urging supporters to attend phone banking sessions as she seeks to continue her push right up to the line.