Labour leadership debate: Candidates clash over economy, immigration and welfare

 
Labour leadership hopefuls (l-r): Yvette Cooper, Jeremy Corbyn, Liz Kendall and Andy Burnham
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Tom Marshall17 June 2015
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Labour’s four leadership contenders clashed over the party’s future during a televised debate this evening.

The economy, immigration and welfare were hot topics during the hustings staged by BBC2's Newsnight in Nuneaton.

The prospect of the successor to Ed Miliband resigning before the next election if their leadership proves unpopular was also raised, with Liz Kendall being most forthright in committing herself to the idea.

The shadow health minister insisted Labour needs “a fresh start” which she could deliver because she does not “have the baggage of the past”, which was seen as a dig at Andy Burnham and Yvette Cooper.

Ms Cooper called for the party to elect a female leader, saying it “would be fantastic for us to smash that final glass ceiling” after campaigning for women’s equality for more than a century.

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said the party should not attempt to distance itself from the legacy of Tony Blair, saying he “did a lot of things right” and reached voters who want to “get on in life”.

"We have to as a party want to be the party that helps everyone get on in life and that's where Labour has got to be going forward,” he said.

But Jeremy Corbyn - who made it onto the ballot by a whisker - won applause by saying he was never a supporter of New Labour.

"Why oh why oh why did Blair have to get so close to Bush that we ended up in an illegal war in Iraq?" he said.

On the issue of immigration, Mr Burnham said that the party had to show that it understood voters' concerns.

Ms Cooper said that there had to be "sensible" controls to show voters that the system was fair.

Ms Kendall acknowledged that there was pubic anger on the issue but said that it was important to understand the benefits immigration had brought.

Mr Corbyn defended the contribution of immigrants to the UK, saying: "If there hadn't been immigration to this country, what kind of health service would we have, what kind of transport system would we have, what kind of education system would we have? We would be in a much more difficult place."

Ms Kendall said voters did not trust Labour on the economy and taxes, while Mr Burnham said the party "did let the deficit get too high" but rejected suggestions that achieving a budget surplus was top priority.

"What matters is a growing economy, decent jobs, strong public services," he said.

Mr Corbyn said: "The most important thing is to ensure our community has a health service, has an education service, people are decently housed and young people have abilities to go into work and develop themselves."

Additional reporting by the Press Association.

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