Ed Miliband returned to the Labour conference stage this afternoon for a Q&A with party delegates and took the opportunity to make a significant intervention. After declaring, in reference to his pledge to freeze energy prices until 2017, “we know where David Cameron and Nick Clegg stand. They just want to allow energy prices to keep on rising”, he added:
We should have that debate over the coming months. We should also have that debate in the TV election debates. It’s time for David Cameron to stop ducking and diving and agree to those TV debates, just like at the last general election, so the country can make its choice.
It’s thought by many that Miliband intended to make this challenge in his speech but forgot to do so during his note-free 75-minute peformance, although it’s also possible he was seeking another newsline.
His suggestion that the debates should be “just like at the last general election” is being interpreted as ruling out the participation of Nigel Farage. If so, that would remove one of the main barriers to cross-party agreement.
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