“I’m In Favour Of People Shouting At Me In Parliament Square”

Ed Miliband speaks to Manchester students

Ed Miliband has enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame in Parliament since his 2005 election as MP for Doncaster. Although he admits, “You may have heard of Miliband – my much more famous brother,” the Cabinet Office Minister certainly comes across as self-assured and surprisingly charming. Even if he is prone, on occasion, to the odd provocation: “I don’t think politics are very good in this country.”

The Rt. Hon. Ed, 38, is often perceived as the easygoing sibling. Enjoying a central position in the Labour entourage, his extra-constituency surgery job is chasing up notes for Labour’s new Manifesto. His third-sector position within the party appeared to allow him the flexibility, as last Tuesday he held a talk entitled ‘The Future for Labour and for Britain’ for University of Manchester students in the Biko Building. The panel also included Lucy Powell, South Manchester Labour candidate and Mike Joslin, the Chair of Manchester Labour Students.

We asked Mr Miliband about the possible removal of the tuition fee cap. This cap currently means that fees cannot go beyond inflation, i.e. the 2008/2009 £3,145 UK resident home fee includes top-up fees and inflation costs only. “The review that we’re having is under serious review,” said the struggling Labour Manifesto Coordinator.

“We’re going to have a look [at] what’s happened. I’ll be honest with you. I think that it’s right that the majority of students [are] going to university. I think that’s the right thing to do…I explained that I want to expand access, particularly to working-class students by helping students make a contribution to their own education. But we obviously do that in the fairest way possible.”

Mike Joslin said he was pleased with the event. “Who said Labour was dead? Who said politics were dead? In the last two days we have 140 new paid up members. That’s more than David Cameron added to his constituency in three years.”

Additional reporting by Alena Eis and Sarah Wakefield.