Ed Miliband was the wrong person to lead Labour into the election

Ed Miliband was the wrong leader to take Labour into the 2015 general election, according to LabourList readers. Almost two thirds of the 2,822 people who took part in last week’s LabourList survey said that Miliband was not the right leader to guide Labour into this year’s election.

After May’s election, Labour ended up with 26 fewer seats than during the previous parliament, including losing 40 MPs in Scotland. The day after the election, Miliband resigned as Labour leader, saying he would take “absolute and total responsibility for the result and our defeat at this election”. Research carried out by the TUC in the weeks that followed found that voters felt David Cameron would make a better prime minister than Miliband.

Last November saw plots to remove Miliband by Labour MPs abandoned due to a lack of support – and over 1,000 LabourList readers signed an open letter calling on anonymous critics to “put up or shut up”.

Just 35% of those who took part in our end of year survey said they still believe Ed Miliband was the right person to lead Labour at the election, while 58% disagreed.

Earlier this week, we revealed that LabourList readers said in the same survey that Labour had been too much like the Tories in May – and had been too tough on issues of deficit reduction and welfare and benefits. This suggests that many wanted Miliband to take on a more avowedly left wing agenda.

We’ll publish more results from our survey over the coming days. Thanks to the 2,822 people who took part.