To return to Ed Miliband’s worst PMQs ever

To return to Ed Miliband’s worst PMQs ever

By Simon Carr

The exchanges between Miliband and Cameron over the rail fares increase have been scored by some as a draw. At the time, in the chamber it looked anything but. There may have been inaccuracies on both sides but Ed Miliband’s questioning went wrong immediately, he failed to press home his point, he flailed, his own side despaired. Whatever Lord Adonis says his intentions were, they are not relevant to the phrasing and failure of Ed Miliband’s attack.

It went like this: Miliband’s opening question asked “why rail companies this month . . . have increased their fares by up to 11%?”

The Prime Minister: The power to do that was given to them by the last Labour Government.

A one-line answer and he sat down. Actually, while the PM’s assertion was accurate, it wasn’t an answer to the question Miliband had asked. The brevity of the reply gave Miliband no time to think and he set off on the wrong foot.

Edward Miliband: No, Mr Speaker, the Prime Minister is wrong.

The PM wasn’t wrong; Miliband’s right response was, “Yes, we gave them the power and we took it away again when we saw what they did with it.”

So, the opposition leader is already lame, and in his next sentence he stumbles. ” . . . this Prime Minister, when he came to office, reversed that policy, which we introduced.” But Cameron did not reverse it. If you look at the Deed of Amendment (the sort of thing Ed Miliband is famous for doing) it says at par 5) b “From 00.00 on 1 January 2011 the amendments to the Franchise Agreement set out in this Deed of Amendment shall be reversed so that . . . Schedule 5,5 of the Franchise Agreement shall be read as if this Notice of Amendment had not been served.” The thing expired automatically. Labour had written the clause that way. The Coalition didn’t reverse it, it reversed itself by itself. So, Miliband’s further assertion “He came to office and brought the power back” gives the PM any amount of room to manouevre.

The more Miliband said, “he’s wrong on the facts” the weaker he sounded.

Edward Miliband: I am afraid the Prime Minister is just wrong about the facts . . . He came to office and brought the power back . . . Instead of his pre-prepared lines, the right hon. Gentleman should get his facts right about his own policy. He is just wrong. He says that he is continuing the policy of the Labour Government, and he is simply wrong on the facts.

This is flailing of a very high order. The tone was whiney. The gestures mechanical. The rhetoric dead. The argument full of holes.

You can hear Labour MPs now talking about a leadership change in more practical ways than hitherto. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s gone before Easter.

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/01/13/to-return-to-ed-milibands-worst-pmqs-ever/

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