Ed Miliband backs Ed Balls over public-sector pay freeze

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Shadow chancellor wins leader's support after saying he cannot promise to reverse any coalition spending cut



Ed Miliband has backed his shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, saying he cannot promise to reverse any spending cut at this stage, and dismissed criticism of his own leadership as "part of the gig".

Balls angered some backbenchers and provoked some union anger when he said he backed the public-sector pay freeze being imposed in the second two years of the parliament by the coalition, adding in a Guardian interview he could not promise to reverse any cut.

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, Miliband explained: "If Labour was in power now we wouldn't be making those changes. We wouldn't be cutting as far and as fast as the government.

"But when it comes to the next Labour government, if I was saying to you: 'I can absolutely promise to restore this cut or that cut,' you would say: 'Well, where is the money going to come for that? How do you know what circumstance you're going to inherit?'

"This is absolutely responsible opposition. And it is absolutely the right thing for us to be doing at this stage of the parliament. We are absolutely determined that Labour shows we would be fiscally credible in government."

He also defended Balls's endorsement for the public-sector pay freeze saying: "It's a hard choice, but when you are faced with the choice between protecting jobs or saying the money should go into pay rises I think it's right to protect jobs.

"In the end there's no easy choices in government … I think it is absolutely right that we say we've got to prioritise employment."

The new emphasis from Miliband and Balls was endorsed by the former chancellor Alistair Darling, but came in for criticism on the Sunday Politics show from Andrew Neil, who repeatedly claimed the Labour frontbench had said nothing new in the past week.

Labour says it is making it clear that while it may oppose some cuts, it will not at this stage promise to reinstate anything that has been cut.

The Conservative deputy chairman, Michael Fallon, said the Labour position was confused, adding Miliband had still not admitted he had overspent in the boom Labour years.