Elder Miliband returns to the limelight at Edinburgh University

David Miliband MP appeared in a packed-out George Square Theatre on 26 October to field questions from an audience of students. Starting at 4pm the Question and Answer session lasted an hour and covered diverse areas such as capitalism, nuclear weapons and trade unions.

Mr Miliband, who famously lost his 2010 bid for the Labour party leadership to his younger brother Ed, appeared confident, speaking clearly about a wide range of issues. He was first asked about topics currently dominating the headlines: the Arab Spring, the eurozone crisis and the “Occupy” protests. On the protests Miliband said he’d spent twenty years thinking about government for the people, yet now saw the need for government by the people.

This theme of self-determination was returned to later in the session, when the question of Scottish independence was brought up. The ex-Foreign Secretary stressed his pro-Union stance, observing that independence goes against the global trend towards connectivity between nations.

He also mentioned that the three-hundred-year-old Acts of Union between England and Scotland could make Britain a “forerunner” for a new kind of relationship between states and the differing national identities within.

Speaking to his audience of university students, Mr Miliband also said that academics, when studying politicians, should look at their motivations and actions, as opposed to simply what they say.

The former-leading Labour politician was, it seemed, reluctant to issue any overly negative criticism of the Westminster coalition. When asked about current government policy, he even stated he is happy to agree with the coalition on some issues.

In the wake of protests against raised tuition fees and government education spending cuts, it was only natural that the Labour politician would have to answer questions about it. When meeting with the press, the question of Labour’s response to Rest of UK (RUK) fees surfaced.

Mr Miliband told The Journal: “Scottish Labour is going to have to develop their own policy”, but emphasised that higher education was still extremely important to Labour. Mr Miliband also claimed that, whilst students may be “sceptical” of politicians after the Liberal Democrats proved unable to implement their education policies, he believed students would be “more open” to Labour than they have previously been.

After the interview an aide of Mr Miliband informed The Journal that the Labour party in the Scottish Parliament are currently calling for a cap from the Scottish Government on university education costs.

Following the event, students said they found Mr Miliband charismatic, confident and more direct than his younger brother, Labour-leader Ed Miliband, although some thought he handled the question on Scottish independence badly.

Although retired from frontline politics, David Miliband is still the MP for South Shields in the northeast of England, and before appearing at the University’s Q & A session he spoke to Edinburgh Labour students.