Oldham East is “a test of the coalition government”

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Appearing in Oldham East and Saddleworth today to kick off the by-election campaign, Ed Miliband was interviewed by Sky News, and said that the campaign would be a “test for the coalition government”:

“It’s a test of the coalition government most of all because they are coming along and people are concerned here in Oldham East and Saddleworth. Around their broken promises around policing, around tuition fees, around a range of other issues.”

On the date of the election, Miliband said that he wanted to give the people of Oldham East a politician free Christmas, but they have been denied that by the coalition. He also expressed concern over the possible disenfranchisement of students in the by-election, as many won’t have returned to the constituency before the vote:

“I think there’s a real concern here about the disenfranchisement of, potentially, thousands of students. Vince Cable was here today, not meeting students, you may not be surprised to learn.”

“I think it’s very, very important that we make it as possible as they can for those students to vote at this important by-election.”

Miliband also took the opportunity to deny that there are cracks in the cabinet after Ed Balls yesterday told the Daily Politics that he’d prefer to see more focus on the economy:

“In fact, I’m going to be here with Ed today campaigning around police cuts. He’s absolutely right that the economy is a massive issue, when you see the rise in unemployment yesterday and the rise in VAT which is going to take place on the 4th of January and indeed the big public spending cuts which I think are a real threat to jobs and growth in this country. Then it’s absolutely right we are campaigning on that issue. And that’s actually absolutely what we’re doing.”