One of the criticisms made by some in Labour of Ed Balls is that he is not committed enough to Ed Miliband’s “responsible capitalism” agenda. The shadow chancellor is often viewed as less concerned with rebalancing the economy away from finance and with introducing a tougher system of bank regulation. One Blue Labour figure recently described him to me as “a conventional Brownite politician”, suggesting that his philosophy was little changed from the days when the party advocated a “light touch” approach to the City.
But when I put this charge to Balls during my interview with him for this week’s NS, he responded with one of the best summaries yet of how his views have evolved and why he is as committed as Miliband to a reshaped capitalism. Here’s the full quote, which I didn’t have room to include in the piece.
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