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Labour lost touch with public and members - Ed Miliband Ed Miliband says Labour must change to win
(about 4 hours later)
  
Labour leader Ed Miliband is to admit his party's leadership lost touch both with its own members and the public. Labour leader Ed Miliband has said his party's leadership lost touch both with its own members and the public.
In a speech in Wrexham to his national policy forum, he will propose reforms aimed at making the party less insular and its decision-making more open. In a speech to the national policy forum, Mr Miliband proposed reforms aimed at making the party less insular and its decision-making more open.
He will say the last Labour government did not listen to concerns over issues like immigration and housing benefits. He said the Labour Party "can only win if we change" and that power would not "come automatically".
Mr Miliband is also expected to defend plans to scrap elections for the shadow cabinet, despite backbench opposition. Mr Miliband also defended plans to scrap elections for the shadow cabinet, despite backbench opposition.
In his speech to party activists and trade unionists, Mr Miliband is expected to unveil a series of proposals. He said: "A party created by working people, for working people, lost touch with them.
Its annual conference will be opened up to campaign groups and charities - who will be allowed to speak from the floor in debates although they will not get to vote on policies. "Old Labour forgot about the public. New Labour forgot about the party. And, by the time we left office, we had lost touch with both."
Local Labour parties will be allowed to organise petitions on issues which they feel ought to be debated at national level, and if they can demonstrate enough support, those issues will be placed on the agenda at future meetings of the policy forum. New proposals
There will also be a new code of conduct for the party's candidates and politicians to ensure they meet voters regularly and are transparent about their expenses. And he cited the decision under former Prime Minister Gordon Brown to abolish the 10p starting rate of income tax, which saw millions of low earners lose out.
And following on from an idea trialled in Oxford and Birmingham, local parties across the UK will get extra resources if they sign up more supporters. "At times the leadership seemed to believe that their role is to protect the public from the party.
Looking outwards "It never really believed that the party could provide that vital connection to the British people, and we didn't build a genuine movement.
Mr Miliband is also expected to cite the decision under Prime Minister Gordon Brown to abolish the 10p starting rate of income tax, which saw millions of low earners lose out. "You were telling us about immigration, about housing, about the 10p tax rate, but the leadership did not listen enough.
In his speech Mr Miliband is expected to say: "'Old Labour forgot about the public. New Labour forgot about the party. He added: "Let me be clear what my ambition is - for Labour to be a cause not just a party, a mission not just a programme, a movement not just a government. Then, together, we can build the country we believe in."
"And, by the time we left office, we had lost touch with both.' In his speech to party activists and trade unionists, Mr Miliband unveiled a series of proposals.
Turning to the policies of the last Labour government, he will say: "We went from six people making decisions in a smoke-filled committee room to six people making the decisions from a sofa in Whitehall. Sometimes less than six.
  • Its annual conference will be opened up to campaign groups and charities - who will be allowed to speak from the floor in debates although they will not get to vote on policies.
  • Local Labour parties will be allowed to organise petitions on issues which they feel ought to be debated at national level, and if they can demonstrate enough support, those issues will be placed on the agenda at future meetings of the policy forum.
  • There will also be a new code of conduct for the party's candidates and politicians to ensure they meet voters regularly and are transparent about their expenses.
    •
  • Following on from an idea trialled in Oxford and Birmingham, local parties across the UK will get extra resources if they sign up more supporters.
    •
Backbench criticism
"But the party was trying to tell us what the people wanted us to know. They were telling us about immigration, about housing benefits and about the 10p tax. We didn't listen." In his Wrexham speech, Mr Miliband defended plans to scrap elections to the shadow cabinet.
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Tessa Jowell admitted to the BBC that Labour had "lost the last election very badly" and "simply didn't hear the strength of public opinion - particularly on immigration and the visceral anger against those who cheat the benefit system".
She also said the reason the Labour leader recorded a lower popularity score than David Cameron or Nick Clegg in a recent poll was because "the public don't really know him".
Backbench criticism
In his Wrexham speech, My Miliband will also go on to defend plans to scrap elections to the shadow cabinet.
The move to take sole responsibility for frontbench appointments has been criticised by some backbench MPs who feel they will be distanced from the party's top team.The move to take sole responsibility for frontbench appointments has been criticised by some backbench MPs who feel they will be distanced from the party's top team.
He said: "All it did when we were last in opposition, was to force members of the shadow cabinet to look inwards and not outwards. Jockeying for position, spending months campaigning against colleagues and organising to get elected.
"All of this was a huge distraction and only emphasised differences. If we are serious about moving on from the patterns of the past and never returning to the factions that divided us, we cannot persist with this system.
"Just like I want the focus of every party member to be on the public, so too it must be for my top team. Just like the football manager picks his team, so it is right that I pick mine."
'Insulting' change
Jeremy Corbyn, MP for Islington North, said the current system was more likely to produce a "balanced" shadow cabinet.Jeremy Corbyn, MP for Islington North, said the current system was more likely to produce a "balanced" shadow cabinet.
He told the BBC: "The number of women in the shadow cabinet needs to increase, in my view, and Harriet Harman was proposing that 50% of the shadow cabinet should be women.He told the BBC: "The number of women in the shadow cabinet needs to increase, in my view, and Harriet Harman was proposing that 50% of the shadow cabinet should be women.
"I thought Ed Miliband agreed with that so unless he is going to do that by patronage, it is an issue that is going to, presumably, be swept aside.""I thought Ed Miliband agreed with that so unless he is going to do that by patronage, it is an issue that is going to, presumably, be swept aside."
Mr Miliband will say the elections sees the party "look inwards not outwards". Shadow Cabinet Office minister Tessa Jowell told the BBC she agreed with scrapping shadow cabinet elections and thought the party would back the idea.
"I want us to be an alternative government," he will say. "The only election members of the shadow cabinet should be worrying about is the general election."
Ms Jowell told the BBC she agreed with scrapping shadow cabinet elections and thought the party would back the idea.
However, Dai Havard, the Merthyr Tydfil MP, wrote to his party leader opposing the plan to change shadow cabinet selection and described an e-mail from Mr Miliband in reply as "something of an insult".However, Dai Havard, the Merthyr Tydfil MP, wrote to his party leader opposing the plan to change shadow cabinet selection and described an e-mail from Mr Miliband in reply as "something of an insult".
Mr Havard said the abolition of shadow cabinet elections was "the winding back of the internal democracy of the Parliamentary party" and he told Mr Miliband his analysis was "flawed" and his "perceived solutions and actions wrong".Mr Havard said the abolition of shadow cabinet elections was "the winding back of the internal democracy of the Parliamentary party" and he told Mr Miliband his analysis was "flawed" and his "perceived solutions and actions wrong".
BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said it is understood Mr Miliband does not intend to address the party's leadership rules highlighted by the Conservatives, which allowed him to be elected with the help of union votes, despite more party members favouring his brother, David. Ms Jowell also admitted to the BBC that Labour had "lost the last election very badly" and "simply didn't hear the strength of public opinion - particularly on immigration and the visceral anger against those who cheat the benefit system".
He has already said these will be revised as part of a series of changes which will go to the party's autumn conference, under the banner Refounding Labour. She also said the reason the Labour leader recorded a lower popularity score than David Cameron or Nick Clegg in a recent poll was because "the public don't really know him".