Q&A with Ed Miliband in Bedford

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a Q&A with Ed Miliband in Bedford. I am so pleased that I went a long, and not just because I got a selfie with Ed or that the BBC ran footage of me getting that selfie on their rolling news! I'm glad I went because it has made me even more certain that I did the right thing in joining the Labour party again.

There's me getting my selfie

I joined Labour the first time round as a student in the early 90s. I let my membership lapse a few years later when I became a bit more disenchanted with Tony Blair but mainly I let it lapse because I didn't really think I needed to be a member of a political party. I was working in the disability and equality field by then. first working for Ken Livingstone and then the Disability Rights Commission. I could see progress was being made and I did enough campaigning in my day job; I didn't want to get involved in politics in my spare time.

But I joined Labour again a month ago, and I wish I had done it sooner. I still work in the disability and equality field and over the last 5 years I have watched that progress, I helped in a small way to build, be steadily eroded. Whether it's restricting legal aid and judicial reviews, or slashing vital support for disabled and older people, the last 5 years have brought real misery to many people. I want to stand up to the ideology of the Tory party, that says everyone should stand on their own two feet and help themselves, which in real terms has meant that the rich have helped themselves to more wealth whilst the poorest are relying on food banks and charity. That's not a society I want to live in. It is also not the inevitable outcome of the financial crisis as some may have you believe. You see we don't have an equal society, no where near that, which means it's a lot easier for some to help themselves than it is for others. Until we have equal opportunities for all, we can't expect the most disadvantaged to compete with the most advantaged. 

I was looking forward to seeing Ed Miliband yesterday but I did kind of expect it to be like a lot of political events I've been to in the past or even helped organise. I have been lucky enough to work in Westminster (for the Lib Dems back in the late 90s) and to have worked with government ministers and MPs through out my career. Some of the politicians I have met and worked with have been nice, I have deeply admired some of them, others are the kind of people you'd like to have a drink with down the pub. Some of them have been rather vain and not interested in what others have had to say, whilst a very small minority I've met have been hideous to deal with, rude and arrogant. 

I whole heartedly expected Ed Miliband to be one of the nice but perhaps aloof politicians. So I wasn't expecting to be confronted by someone who seems so genuinely to care. Ed Miliband came across to me as one of the most sensitive and thoughtful politicians I've met. He also struck me as honest. Yes I know, but he did. I think the reason why this doesn't readily come across on TV is that even with our 24 hour rolling news, for all the time they have to fill, the media still just pick sound bites and snippets to use. From spending an hour at the Q&A and seeing and listening to all the ground that was covered I was disappointed that the BBC reduced the whole thing to one 20 second bit about coalitions. What didn't come across and what I was most impressed with, was how Ed Miliband linked issues and policies together, looking at a bigger picture and considering how solving one problem can in fact solve many more. 

In the hour of the Q&A the questions asked ranged from NHS in all it's many services including, mental health, ambulance services, fertility treatment, nursing shortages and integrating social care to questions about  early years education, free schools and school place shortages, and private education, it covered housing for young  people, support for single mothers, the armed forces cuts and what to do about Trident, my questions on disability and employment as well as questions about supporting those made redundant and what Labour will do for those fairly well off middle earners who worry about their children not having the same opportunities they have, as well as supporting young people into work and education, and voting and democracy. But the news just shows you 20 seconds about possible coalition negotiations.

So what did I ask Ed. Well I asked him what labour would do to help disabled people, not just scrapping the bedroom tax but more broadly. I gave him the example of a friend who has a first degree but can't get a job in social work. He had already tackled questions about the shortages of social workers. How did he respond? Well first of all he acknowledged that my question was an important one he said that current legislation was a good start but disability equality needed to go further. He said the work capability assessment needed to be reformed but most importantly the assessment should be about what support people needed to get into work and what support employers needed. He said it was vital that employers were supported to employ disabled people. He said labour would work to improve disability equality to look at how the disability discrimination act and equality act could be taken further so disabled people can contribute and take part in all areas of life. 

I have a kind of radar that goes off when a politician or manager of some sort is uncomfortable talking about disability equality. It must be from all the years training and working in this field. But that radar didn't go off when Ed spoke. He meant it. He wasn't just saying warm words. I wish now my question had been to ask him to commit to a new disability task force. He committed to it in all but name I think. 

What I found most refreshing was to hear a politician speak for over an hour, on many topics and for me to agree with them and not be left feeling angry or exasperated. Believe me politicians of all parties do have that exasperation effect on me often. But not Ed. I disagreed with some of his points, on Trident for example but he acknowledged others felt differently to him and he was respectful of their views. 

I also appreciate that his message was a positive one, a message of hope, of creating a fairer society of supporting the vulnerable and caring about the NHS, its staff and patients. Of course there was criticism of the coalition government but it was criticism of policies not personalities. At one point he explained why he had met with Russell Brand and he explained that although he completely disagreed with Brand's stance on not voting, he was not dismissive of Brand's view nor those of his many followers on YouTube. He linked it to a question about disenchantment with politics, he said you could just ignore those people switched off by politics or dismiss them as jokes or you could engage with them and start a dialogue and try to move forward with a better understanding of each other. It was that message of understanding, co-operation and wishing to include not exclude which is at the heart of so many of labours policies that impressed me deeply. 

Here's my selfie with Ed Miliband