Harriet Harman insists that Labour’s plan to freeze energy prices will fire up faith in Ed Miliband’s future Prime Minister bid.
The Labour deputy leader said today in a lunch meeting with residents from Heywood and Middleton that Ed Miliband would be the only MP to tackle issues that the majority of hardworking people are concerned about.
After meeting with an all-female group of residents and Labour candidate Liz McInnes ahead of the Heywood and Middleton by-election, Mrs Harman said that despite Ed’s seeming unpopularity, he is still the right politician to lead the county.
She told MM: “I think that the women here today are people who have worked hard all their lives from civil servants to machinists in factories who are worrying about energy bills. It was actually Ed Miliband who said we should freeze that bill.
“They shouldn’t have to be worried about getting a GP appointment, it was Ed who said extra funding would be taken out of the tobacco companies to pay for enough GPs.
“So basically, people are asking ‘what will the government do to help me?’ and Ed Miliband has more than got the answers to those questions so I think we’re on a clean course.”
HEARING HARRIET: Harman holds a meeting with residents (©Twitter with thanks)
The Shadow Culture Secretary’s comments come after new polls showed that Labour’s popularity had dropped after their party conference in Manchester last month.
Former deputy Prime Minister John Prescott also labelled Miliband’s political strategy as weak and that Labour’s approach was too ‘timid’ in an article in the Sunday Mirror.
“Ed Miliband is the only person that was talking about the cost of living crisis, none of the other party leaders were even thinking about the fuel bill,” she said.
“So I think it’s important that between now and the General Election, ensuring everyone really understands that they don’t have to put up with not seeing their GP and not being able to afford their heating and that Ed has got the set of answers which if he was Prime Minister would put into effect.”
Voters got to the polls on Thursday to decide who will sit in Parliament for the Heywood and Middleton constituency, which covers parts of Norden and Castleton.
The seat, which was held by the late Jim Dobbin from 1997 until his death last month, has been at the centre of a furious battle for votes with Labour candidate McInnes and UKIP’s John Bickley going head-to-head.
Both parties leaders, Miliband and Nigel Farage, have visited the constituency in a bid to drum up support.
Main image courtesy of BBC via YouTube with thanks
