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WEBCHAT GUIDELINES: 1. One question per member plus one follow-up. 2. Keep your question brief. 3. Don't moan if your question doesn't get answered. 4. Do be civil/polite. 5. If one topic or question threatens to overwhelm the webchat, MNHQ will usually ask for people to stop repeating the same question or point.

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MNHQ

Live webchat with Ed Miliband, Labour leader and Leader of the Opposition, Thursday 1st Dec at 1.45pm

488 replies

KatieMumsnet · 30/11/2011 13:49

We're very pleased to announce that Labour leader, Ed Miliband will be joining us for a webchat this Thursday between 1.45pm and 2.45pm.

Ed is MP for Doncaster, former Minister for Energy and Climate change and won the Labour leadership in the autumn of 2010. He's keen to hear your views and answer any of your questions.

Do join us for the webchat. As ever, if you can't make it, please post up your advance questions here.

Thanks,

MNHQ

OP posts:
Sciencegeekmum · 30/11/2011 21:18

Hi Ed,

What specific ideas do the Labour Party have to reduce the deficit in this country whilst not making the cuts that the current government are making?

(I'm getting fed up of the vast majority of people complaining about cuts rather than offering viable alternatives. This is not to say I agree with the cuts!)

reelingintheyears · 30/11/2011 21:22

Three months for a Social services OT to assess an elderly person for stairlifts and bath aids/chairs.

Helpful when they've just had a bad fall and can't get about.?

What will Labour do to resolve this mess.?

dustbunniesmakegreatpets · 30/11/2011 21:26

Hi Ed,

I have a question for you in your guise as former Energy and Climate Change Minister.

Given that even developed economies such as our own are addicted to economic growth, and that de-coupling economic growth from emissions growth seems unfeasible, should we now shift the main focus of policy to adaptation? If so, what would that look like? And do you think climate change has any chance of getting back on the UK policy agenda in this Parliament/while the downturn lasts?

(Hmm. That may have been three questions, but they're interrelated, so I'm counting them as one.)

dustbunniesmakegreatpets · 30/11/2011 21:26

Er, sorry, I also meant to say thanks for talking to us. Thanks.

Honeydragon · 30/11/2011 21:30

*IsSam?NormmansDad

I'll take your Q.2.

Why on earth should we trust MPs, MEPs & MSPs to run our country, when many (or at least the loudest) dont really seem to have a clue what 'normal' people are up against?

How does becoming a politician and only ever having been a politician mean you can decide what people need and should do?

Dh has always been a British manufacturer, yet doesn't support modern labour as he truly believes that Labour do not understand or believe in them.

MixedClassBaby · 30/11/2011 21:41

Ed,

I am a public sector worker who took the difficult decision to strike yesterday. I feel completely let down by your lack of clear support for the Trade Unions and the action taken by their members. It is largely because of TU votes that you are in the position of Leader of the Labour party. Why aren't you speaking out for those you claim(ed) to represent?

MixedClassBaby · 30/11/2011 21:45

BTW, I realise that the strike was today (in case anyone thinks I was standing on my own with a placard yesterday wondering where everyone was) but wrote my question so that it makes sense tomorrow.

AgnesDiPesto · 30/11/2011 22:07

Why were you not out supporting the strikes? Do you think its reasonable for a part-time worker who had to give up a career to care for a severely autistic child should have to pay 9% of their very reduced income to secure a pension because pension calculations are based on fulltime equivalent salaries - why doesn't the State make up pensions for carers who try and go out to work to a fulltime level? Or pay a proper living carers wage rather than a benefit which is less than someone on the dole would receive?

Swedes2 · 30/11/2011 22:27

How will you spend Christmas Day? Will you be popping round to your mum's for a game of charades with your brother?

fivegomadindorset · 30/11/2011 22:29

Can I suggest that you read Lord Sugar's latest book, the one where he rants? Make good reading and you could learn alot.

reelingintheyears · 30/11/2011 22:41

Why be personally spiteful Swedes2?

Isn't there enough nastiness at the moment?

Awayinamangercooper · 30/11/2011 22:45

Who do you think should succeed you as leader? Might we see a female leader of the opposition?

Betelguese · 01/12/2011 00:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Masserrato · 01/12/2011 04:30

I would like to ask how Ed Milliband can stand in the House of Commons at question time and behave as if HIS party has nothing to do with the current crisis. I would like to see MPs agreeing on this issue and getting down to work together and at least pretending to support each other, instead of shouting at each other like hooligans.

Sciencegeekmum · 01/12/2011 04:52

Oooo answer Masserrato's one, that's good!

Bucharest · 01/12/2011 06:39

Like BIWI I voted for you and would do so again in an instant.

My question is more ideological than current. Do you see the Labour Party ever re-evolving into something more akin to where it came from, when most Labour politicians were vocational politicians rather than suited-and-booted careerists? (actually, this is probably true of politicians across the board, I want to know where the Ann Widdecombs are, as well as the Tony Benns- both of whom I admire enormously, one for everything he stands for, and the other for nothing she stands for but for having the integrity to stand up for it all the same) I also want to know (and this is part B of my question HQ so don't look at me like that) why you don't encourage more of the wonderful grassroots activists to move up the ranks. My Mum sleeps with a photo of Mrs Thatcher under her pillow but votes Labour in local elections because we have a wonderful family who for generations have worked tirelessly for the local community. These are the people who truly represent what Labour means to me.

Thank you.

PS Could you possibly get the phone number of the person who wrote Neil Kinnock's "I warn you not to grow old" speech or whoever wrote Gordon's speech about why he was in Labour. They might be able to write you something a bit more go-ey.

swallowedAfly · 01/12/2011 07:45

hi mr milliband - would you agree that the cuts are being entirely mismanaged and driven by ideology rather than economics? it is heartbreaking watching them slash away the very things that will help this country survive and cope with the hard times and to rebuild again.

also please confirm that labour sees and disagrees with the blatantly sexist nature of the cuts - have you read the fawcett report? i need to hear labour actually say they see the sexism and they fight and oppose what is being to women under this government.

what would be wonderful is some reassurances that if labour get back in they are committed to undoing the damage done by this party that so many of us did not vote for.

BIWI · 01/12/2011 08:25

I would like to un-ask the question about Blue Labour now, as I feel that the time for ideological arguments and presentations is past.

I am angry now about what is being done by the Coalition, and the pressure being placed on those least able to afford it, whilst the wealthy appear to be escaping unscathed.

I want to know what you, Ed, and the Labour party are going to do.

The time has come (as if it hadn't already) for you to make a clear and dynamic stand against this horrible government who are proving themselves to be the Truly Nasty Party.

What action are you going to take?

BIWI · 01/12/2011 08:25

.... but I bet the Blue Labour question is one that will get answered Sad

BIWI · 01/12/2011 08:27

Sorry - one more thing - it's very unlikely I will be able to join the webchat as I have a difficult work day today, so I would like to say, in advance, "welcome", to Mr Miliband.

CalatalieSisters · 01/12/2011 08:33

I like Bucharest's question. I grew up at a time when the Labour Party leaderships were representatives appointed and constrained by an active membership gathered around a coherent set of principles. The formative political event for me was the 1979 party conference, which was pretty shakespearian in its drama compared with the PR conference-lites we have today.

THe membership now just seems like ballast, walking direct debits, and party leadership seems driven just by fear of the electorate. That's a fair-enough strategy in the weeks before an election, but when we are years away from an election I want a party that leads opinion not tiptoes behind it.

All real political passion is outside-the-system, camping in tents in front of a political cathedral that doesn't really know what to do with it.

The combination of weak grassroots parties, a derelict first-past-the-post electoral system, and a whipped and relatively powerless parliament makes me feel that democracy in Britain is weaker than it has been for many decades.

Do you agree Ed Miliband? Do you see any way that Labour can tackle this?

undermyskin · 01/12/2011 08:49

We are told that the light at the end of the tunnel is disappearing. My DD is currently preparing for GCSEs. What is the best advice I can give her for a good future? Thank you.

purits · 01/12/2011 08:54

Do you regret the change in the national psyche that Labour has brought about?

The one where everyone seems to think that they have an entitlement to state handouts; where families on above-average income still expect to get tax credits.Shock How can we ever get out of the financial mess if people are expecting to take out of the pot, instead of putting in.

I know that it helps Labour's election chances if everyone is thinking "those lovely Labour people give me money, I'll vote for them" but how can you run a world class economy on a dependecy-culture?

Masserrato · 01/12/2011 09:11

Ed ( I can't call you Mr cos you are younger than me!)

I think it's fair to say a lot of us are worried about what has happened to the moral code of the country, for example the riots this year.

Do you think it's possible that the youth of today have seen so many *high profile people behaving in an atrocious manner without any comeback that the rioters etc wonder why they shouldn't do the same.

*the bankers for example who have behaved with absolute recklessness dishonesty and yet for some reason are not yet facing the courts.

*the Government of the day, who were supposed to be governing the banks, allowing this to happen.

*MPs who we should expect to be of high standards abusing the system for their own gain? (expenses scandal). How many have actually been prosecuted for their dishonesty??

Crumblemum · 01/12/2011 09:58

Hi Ed

Who does your twitter feed? It always seems a bit static and formal. I understand you can't do it all the time, but maybe you should go down the route of Obama (and the xfactor contestants) who does some himself but lets it be known when his staff are doing it - with (HQ) at end.