Latest news with #DavidMiliband
CNN
27-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
International Rescue Committee CEO says Syria's ‘needs are huge'
International Rescue Committee CEO David Miliband discusses how new Syrian partnerships, especially with Gulf states, could help restore the country back to prosperity.
CNN
27-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
International Rescue Committee CEO says Syria's ‘needs are huge'
International Rescue Committee CEO David Miliband discusses how new Syrian partnerships, especially with Gulf states, could help restore the country back to prosperity.
Gulf Today
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Labour should embrace a bold agenda to counter opposition
Labour should not mimick right-wing populist strategies following disappointing local election results, a new report from The Institute For Public Policy Research (IPPR) has warned. Instead, the influential think tank urges the party to embrace a bold, progressive agenda to counter the rising tide of populism. The IPPR, which played a key role in shaping policy during the Blair and Brown years, argues that simply rehashing past Labour approaches won't suffice in the current political climate. Titled 'Facing the future' and backed by former Labour Foreign Secretary David Miliband, the report serves as a counterpoint to groups like Blue Labour. The campaign group has suggested that Labour should adopt some of the rhetoric and policies of their right-wing opponents to combat the surge in popularity of parties like Reform UK. Following significant losses to Reform UK in May's local elections, Labour has emphasised action on issues like migration and crime — areas where Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has taken a hardline stance. However, the IPPR warns that this approach risks playing into the hands of the populists. The think tank, which has seen several staff members join Keir Starmer's team, contends that the "forward march of populism is in full swing" and requires a different response. The report advocates for a forward-looking, progressive agenda as the most effective way to challenge the populist narrative. Labour should "shift from defence to offence, from reactive to proactive, from apology to confidence", and show itself to be "a disruptor, not defender, of the status quo" in order to combat its insurgent political foes, it said. The report, which is directed not just at Labour, but progressive parties across the Western world, suggested ministers face a hard task because "the progressive engine of ideas seems to have run out of steam". "When parties don't have new ideas, they reach back for old ones, or imitate others. Neither of these approaches will work at a moment of great change and challenge," it said. In a stark warning not to rehash the ideas of New Labour, or even older Labour governments, the IPPR added that progressives "cannot simply reach back to yesterday's men in search of their ideas, goals and policies". "Their world has dissolved, so their ideas are out of date," the report added. The rising importance of national borders, broken faith in the global financial markets, and a lack of common public ground due to the fragmented way people now read the news, are among the reasons Labour cannot simply attempt to re-hash the so-called "Third Way" of politics it championed in the 1990s and 2000s, the IPPR said. The populist right's brand is meanwhile boosted when Labour and other progressive parties attempt to ape their ideas, the think tank warned. "The challenge is to address the changes and grievances they speak to, but with progressive ideas and solutions," it added. David Miliband, the former Labour foreign secretary and brother to Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, gave his backing to the research. Mr Miliband, who wrote the report's foreword, said adopting new ideas could lead Labour to oversee a "virtuous circle of social, political and economic renewal, in which security and opportunity reinforce each other". He added: "That is what happened after Labour was elected in 1945 and 1997, and what is needed again. The policies of those periods are time-bound; no one is suggesting those policies should be regurgitated. But the lessons in how new ideas can power new politics are important." The report concludes by saying Labour and its political allies around the world must now discuss and share progressive ideas for governing in the near future, a period which could be "destabilising". The Labour Government, because of the long period before the next general election is expected to take place, has a chance to play a "co-ordinating role" in these efforts, it added.
Telegraph
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
David Miliband tells Labour to be bolder in face of Reform threat
David Miliband has told Labour to be bolder in the face of a growing threat from Reform UK. The former foreign secretary said Sir Keir Starmer must take an 'insurgent' approach to running Britain, and that he could no longer defend the status quo. It is the first significant intervention by Mr Miliband – who moved to New York after quitting Parliament in 2013 – since Labour returned to power last summer. Reform won overall control of 10 councils at the local elections earlier this month, and many of its gains came at the expense of Sir Keir's party. The Prime Minister has since said he expects Reform to be the main challenger at the next general election, while Nigel Farage, the party's leader, has said he intends to target dozens of seats in Labour's traditional industrial heartlands. In the foreword to a new report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), Mr Miliband emphasised 'the need for both conservation and change'. He said: 'Progressives need to shift from defence to offence, from reactive to proactive, from apology to confidence. 'The Labour Government in the UK has the opportunity to show how this can be done. It wants to be an 'insurgent' Government: to show itself to be a disruptor, not defender, of the status quo. 'The challenge it faces is defining and prosecuting an alternative. Their task is made harder because the progressive engine of ideas seems to have run out of steam. When parties don't have new ideas, they reach back for old ones, or imitate others.' 'Challenge is adding grievances' Mr Miliband, the brother of Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, added that Labour could not simply 'copy' Reform as this would merely broaden Mr Farage's appeal. He continued: 'The challenge is to address the changes and grievances they speak to, but with progressive ideas and solutions.' Mr Miliband concluded by calling for 'a new Left for a new age', urging a distinctive programme of policy reforms in the decade to come. He ran for the Labour leadership in 2010 after the party lost power at that year's general election, but was defeated by his brother in a bruising contest. After departing frontline politics, Mr Miliband has spent more than a decade as the president of the International Rescue Committee, the humanitarian aid group. His remarks are the latest in a series of interventions by high-profile Labour grandees in recent weeks, urging Sir Keir to adjust his approach. Sir Tony Blair, the last Labour leader before Sir Keir to win a general election, appeared to attack his net zero objectives as 'doomed to fail' in an extraordinary report. Sir Tony subsequently insisted he was fully supportive of the PM's agenda, calling it 'the right one', but the intervention nevertheless opened up a debate in the party about its approach to the environment. 'Electorally toxic' Lord Blunkett, a former home secretary under Sir Tony, later warned in an article for The Telegraph that net zero risked becoming 'electorally toxic'. Gordon Brown, Sir Tony's successor in Downing Street, has sounded the alarm over Sir Keir's planned welfare cuts while also arguing for the abolition of the two-child benefit cap. The Government has sought to address the concerns of Reform supporters and the issues raised by its policy agenda in the weeks after the local elections. Sir Keir and Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, announced a crackdown on immigration aimed at 'significantly' reducing numbers. Almost £5 billion of welfare cuts have also been drawn up despite a significant backbench rebellion, while Sir Keir has also vowed to go 'further and faster' in using his landslide to demonstrate tangible change.
Powys County Times
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Powys County Times
Labour ‘should not aim to copy right-wing populism but offer alternatives'
Labour should not copy the ideas of rising right-wing populists following its poor showing in local elections, but counter them with a bold, progressive agenda, the latest report by an influential think tank warns. The Government cannot simply retry the ideas of past Labour administrations in the modern era if it wants to hold onto power, the Institute For Public Policy Research (IPPR) also said in its latest research, backed by former Labour foreign secretary David Miliband. The report can be read as somewhat of a counter to groups like Blue Labour, which have suggested ministers adopt some of the ideas and language of the party's opponents on the political right in order to counter the rise of populist parties like Reform UK. Following the May local elections, in which Labour lost a broad swathe of council seats across England to Reform UK, ministers have emphasised action to tackle migration and crime, policy areas where Reform leader Nigel Farage has sought to present a tough front. The IPPR, which was influential on policy during the Blair and Brown governments and has seen several of its staff move into Sir Keir Starmer's administration, warned the 'forward march of populism is in full swing' in its report titled 'Facing the future'. Labour should 'shift from defence to offence, from reactive to proactive, from apology to confidence', and show itself to be 'a disruptor, not defender, of the status quo' in order to combat its insurgent political foes, it said. The report, which is directed not just at Labour, but progressive parties across the Western world, suggested ministers face a hard task because 'the progressive engine of ideas seems to have run out of steam'. 'When parties don't have new ideas, they reach back for old ones, or imitate others. Neither of these approaches will work at a moment of great change and challenge,' it said. In a stark warning not to rehash the ideas of New Labour, or even older Labour governments, the IPPR added that progressives 'cannot simply reach back to yesterday's men in search of their ideas, goals and policies'. 'Their world has dissolved, so their ideas are out of date,' the report added. The rising importance of national borders, broken faith in the global financial markets, and a lack of common public ground due to the fragmented way people now read the news, are among the reasons Labour cannot simply attempt to re-hash the so-called 'Third Way' of politics it championed in the 1990s and 2000s, the IPPR said. The populist right's brand is meanwhile boosted when Labour and other progressive parties attempt to ape their ideas, the think tank warned. 'The challenge is to address the changes and grievances they speak to, but with progressive ideas and solutions,' it added. David Miliband, the former Labour foreign secretary and brother to Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, gave his backing to the research. Mr Miliband, who wrote the report's foreword, said adopting new ideas could lead Labour to oversee a 'virtuous circle of social, political and economic renewal, in which security and opportunity reinforce each other'. He added: 'That is what happened after Labour was elected in 1945 and 1997, and what is needed again. The policies of those periods are time-bound; no one is suggesting those policies should be regurgitated. But the lessons in how new ideas can power new politics are important.' The report concludes by saying Labour and its political allies around the world must now discuss and share progressive ideas for governing in the near future, a period which could be 'destabilising'. The Labour Government, because of the long period before the next general election is expected to take place, has a chance to play a 'co-ordinating role' in these efforts, it added.
