Planet Miliband

27 September 2010 By Neil Collins

Ed Miliband’s election as Labour leader marks a lurch to the left. The trade unions whose votes clinched it believe high taxes are a good thing, and that the deficit is not a pressing problem. Unless Miliband ditches this baggage, David Cameron may be in power for a decade.

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Ed Miliband was elected the new leader of the UK opposition Labour party on Sept.25, narrowly beating his brother David.

Labour's electoral college splits the votes into three groups: the London MPs and the MEPs; the party members; and the trade unions.

Voting is by single transferrable vote, with the candidate with the least number of votes being eliminated, and his/her second preference votes being distributed among the
other candidates. The process continues until one candidate has an overall majority.

The fourth ballot gave Ed Miliband 50.65 percent, against 49.35 percent for David Miliband.

Ed Miliband received growing support from the trade unions as the votes were reallocated. His figures from the unions in each round were 13.821 percent, 15.231 percent, 16.706 percent and 19.934 percent of the total votes cast. The unions and other affiliates have 33.333 percent of ther total vote. In other words, he collected 60 percent of the union block vote.

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