Ed Miliband's car crash interview
Heard an unbelievably bad interview given by Ed Miliband on BBC Radio 4 this lunchtime - both I and a colleague thought it was a complete car crash.
He got off to a bad start by claiming that local Labour councils had helped people with expensive heating bills.
Hmm. Guess which recent Secretary of State for Energy has a lot to do with the system of fuel pricing which resulted in those expensive heating bills?
You've guessed it: one Ed Miliband.
Then he refused no fewer than ten times to admit that his policies would mean increased borrowing in the short term or explain how Labour would fund them. He called for a one year cut in the VAT rate. It was pointed out that this would cost £12 billion. He was asked how he would fund this and refused to answer. He was asked if this would increase borrowing in the short term and refused to answer, saying that it would lead to growth and cut borrowing in the medium term.
At one point he accused the interviewer, Martha Kearney, of not understanding his policy: I thought she understood perfectly, but even had he been right it would be his fault for not explaining it properly.
Not a good performance.
UPDATE
Miliband admitted to Channel Four the following day that this had been "not such a good interview" and readily proffered the admission he had repeatedly refused to give Martha Kearney, that
"a big VAT cut to stimulate the economy would mean borrowing more in the short term."
He got off to a bad start by claiming that local Labour councils had helped people with expensive heating bills.
Hmm. Guess which recent Secretary of State for Energy has a lot to do with the system of fuel pricing which resulted in those expensive heating bills?
You've guessed it: one Ed Miliband.
Then he refused no fewer than ten times to admit that his policies would mean increased borrowing in the short term or explain how Labour would fund them. He called for a one year cut in the VAT rate. It was pointed out that this would cost £12 billion. He was asked how he would fund this and refused to answer. He was asked if this would increase borrowing in the short term and refused to answer, saying that it would lead to growth and cut borrowing in the medium term.
At one point he accused the interviewer, Martha Kearney, of not understanding his policy: I thought she understood perfectly, but even had he been right it would be his fault for not explaining it properly.
Not a good performance.
UPDATE
Miliband admitted to Channel Four the following day that this had been "not such a good interview" and readily proffered the admission he had repeatedly refused to give Martha Kearney, that
"a big VAT cut to stimulate the economy would mean borrowing more in the short term."
Comments
Personally I thought that interview will be used in the future to define "Motorway Pile Up"
"At one point he accused the interviewer of not understanding his policy"
Glad I am not alone as a person who does not understand his policy then. I dont think anyone does, including Red Ed himself.
Should we trust red ed with our money? - Well, if i remember correctly last time we did that Himself, Ed Balls and Gordon Brown did not exactly do a tremendous job.
When a system allows failure on that scale, then its time to change the system. To quote the US founding fathers "we hold these truths to be self evident"
Also I see he did improve much today.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/wintour-and-watt/2013/apr/30/edmiliband-gordon-brown
In short he is out campaining about "listening to people" then interupts the man to whom he is speaking 3 times so the man never gets to make his point. Brilliant.
I think the man from Cleveleys had his analysis spot on at the start really.