A day in the race: September 7th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Get out the vote drives are continuing, as all of the leadership candidates do their best to get their supporters voting, and get new members signed up to the party by tomorrow so that they can vote in the contest. There have also been numerous replies published to Danny Alexander’s letter to the leadership candidates on cuts.

DIANE ABBOTT sent out an email to supporters this evening, but the contents have your correspondent baffled. The email, entitled “Diane Abbott Steams Ahead in Labour Leadership Contest”, refers to a poll of “loyal Labour voters” that has placed Diane top. In fact, the three polls that Diane links to in the email have placed her 2nd, 3rd and 3rd. It’s hard to see how this matches up with the title. Some might even consider this disingenuous.

On closer inspection though, Diane has topped a poll of sorts. She finished top of a vote of 236 LGBT non-member but Labour supporting voters conducted by Pink News. However, she was 3rd in the vote of 680 LGBT Labour members conducted by the same group. Some might suggest that the second vote is more relevant to the leadership contest than the former as the members will have a vote, and of course the vote Diane did win is a small, and not neccessarily representative sample. Diane said in a statement on her website:

“It is clear that I have the support from people in the street believe I am the best candidate for leader because most relate to them.”

“I have always said I am the people’s candidate and this just proves it.”

“I would urge all those people who think I am the best candidate to join the Labour Party before tomorrow’s deadline and help give me a real chance to become Labour’s next leader.”

I’m not entirely sure that the evidence is there to back that statement up…

The BBC reported on Diane’s exclusive interview with LabourList today, in which she warned the party against “anointing” the next leader, saying:

“The most dangerous thing is to elect the anointed heir, and I say that because I was an MP in 1997, and I vividly remember being in Westminster and seeing Mrs Thatcher literally tow William Hague around the corridors, like a recalcitrant toddler, and her message was — a kind of biblical message — “Here is my anointed sonâ€. The Tories voted for the heir and then they were out of power for 13 years. The truth is that New Labour did some great things in the past 13 years, but I think the electorate wants to see we’ve moved on, and we won’t look as if we’ve moved on if we appoint an heir.”

DAVID MILIBAND today gained the endorsement of former Scottish first minister Jack McConnell, who said:

“In government, David was the most principled and thoughtful UK Minister I dealt with as First Minister of Scotland. He was honest and up front when we disagreed, but listening and thoughtful when we were considering new ideas. He ‘got’ devolution. He has been consistently inclusive, he understands the concerns of ordinary people, and I believe he is genuinely committed to a multicultural Britain.”

David sent out a Rosh Hashanah greeting, and responded to Danny Alexander’s letter, saying:

“The truth is that the government is in denial over growth. As I said two weeks ago we are over-reliant on financial services and the South East, and under-powered when it comes to private investment, skills, the exploitation of new markets and the renewal of our national infrastructure. That is why growth rates have consistently come in under forecast over the last decade. It is key to tackling the deficit itself.”

“And they are in denial over the broken promises they made during the election, in denial over the unfair cuts targeting the vulnerable that have defined their budget, and in denial over the small state ideology that is threatening our future.”

“Let’s make sure they don’t get away with it.”

ED MILIBAND also responded to Douglas Alexander’s letter to leadership candidates, by saying:

“Danny Alexander and the coalition government are preparing a devastating package of cuts which will damage the economy and hit those on low and middle incomes. I am today calling on Danny Alexander to take the steps now that will mean a fairer comprehensive spending review which protects public services and those on low and middle incomes.

* First, he should raise taxes on the banks by a further £5billion — retaining the bankers’ bonus tax, increasing the bankers’ levy and introducing a new financial transactions tax, and using this to protect public services and critical entitlements like the Winter Fuel Allowance and Child Benefit, which help many families and the elderly.

* Second, he should set out immediately his plans to tackle tax avoidance, as Nick Clegg promised. This could save public services from a further £3-4billion of cuts.

* Third, he should set out how he plans to act to implement a living wage across the economy. Many people are surprised to discover that taxpayers are spending £6billion each year subsidising low pay through benefits and tax credits and foregone taxation. Danny Alexander should adopt my plan to give tax cuts to businesses who adopt the living wage and cut our welfare bill.”

Ed also offered the Lib Dems an “anti-tuition fee alliance” today, saying:

“If elected Labour leader I will bring forward plans to replace tuition fees with a new graduate tax better able to provide secure long-term funding for universities and fairer to students. It will mean that the amount you go on to earn reflects the amount you are expected to repay.”

“Higher and variable tuition fees would create an unwanted market in higher education and limit the opportunities and aspirations of thousands of young people.”

“If the coalition government come forward with plans for higher and variable tuition fees, I will work with those Liberal Democrat MPs who stand by their manifesto commitment, and I will work to defeat those plans in parliament.”

ED BALLS was feted by Mary Riddell in the Telegraph this morning, the latest in a stream of positive press coverage Balls has received since his Bloomberg speech, as she called him Britain’s “new political hero”:

“Britain has a new political hero. His name is Ed Balls. Please do not choke on your cornflakes, for the rise of Mr Balls has been brewing for some time. His trademark pummelling of the Coalition reached new heights in a bravura speech denouncing George Osborne as a “growth denier” whose cuts imperil the recovery.”

ANDY BURNHAM seems to have had a fairly quiet day on the campaign trail today, but you can watch this Sun webchat with him:

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