UK opposition leader: ‘Long-term future of UK is in EU’

ANKARA

Labour party leader Ed Miliband firmly committed his party on Monday, ahead of the upcoming election, to keeping the U.K. in the European Union.

Speaking to a group of businesspeople at a conference, Miliband said the risk of leaving the EU was a “clear and present danger.”

"There could be nothing worse for our country or for our great exporting businesses than playing political games with our membership of the EU. David Cameron used to understand that. But in the past five years, our place in the European Union has become less and less secure,” Miliband complained.

David Cameron has promised a referendum by 2017 if he wins the election - something that Miliband described as "a recipe for two years of uncertainty."

"We'll show strong leadership to get the best for Britain, but we won't condemn this country to years of uncertainty, years of insecurity, by threatening our European future," Miliband insisted. He pledged to “reform the EU from the inside.”

But Miliband did not rule out the possibility of a referendum on EU membership, “if there is a transfer of power from the U.K. to the EU.” He explained that the desire was to limit the EU’s power over the U.K., but that, should the opposite occur, “a referendum on staying in or going out would have to be held.”

“It isn’t likely that this would occur,” Miliband said.

The opposition leader launched Labour’s 22-page plan for U.K. business at the conference. The basis of the plan is to improve productivity.

“Productivity is the biggest economic challenge," Miliband said. “It is the key to the country we want to be.”

He said that for every hour worked, the U.K. produces nearly 20 percent less than its G7 competitors and is "losing its competitive edge in a world that won't wait."

“Only when working people succeed does an economy progress,” Miliband said.

Labour plans to cut corporate tax, if elected, for small businesses while raising it for the largest ones.

Additionally, Miliband pledged to create an infrastructure commission that “would no longer dither” in making improvements. “We are behaving as though we’re in the 20th century while the rest of the world is in the 21st,” he said.

Miliband also pledged to invest in education, but with a particular attention to “vocational education.”

“We will have math and English taught in schools until the age of 18,” he said.

Miliband’s pitch to business comes at a time when Labour is still struggling to change its anti-business image - a number of business leaders have called him "left-wing" in recent conferences.

Whether the commitment to stay in the EU, which a majority of U.K. businesses favor, according to recent polls, will be enough to change hearts and minds in the City remains to be seen.

UK general election campaign kicks off

Political parties across the United Kingdom started campaigning on Monday for the British general election that is to be held on May 7, 2015.

Prime Minister David Cameron is set to meet the Queen later on Monday following the dissolution of parliament. They will discuss issues ranging from the economy and the NHS to the U.K.'s European Union membership and immigration.

The Fixed Term Parliaments Act meant that parliament dissolved at midnight and all 650 MPs are now ordinary members of the public. Those seeking to be re-elected now go back to their constituencies and hit the campaign trail. 

The center-right Conservative Party and center-left Labour Party are both tied in the opinion polls with 34 percent each. The British press reports that a coalition government is likely to be necessary as no party will win an outright majority.

UKIP, a right-wing anti-immigrant party, are currently on 13 percent in the polls with the Liberal Democrat Party and Green Party on 8 and 5 percent respectively.

The British Premier said the 2015 vote "is the most important election for a generation, a real choice between continued competence or disaster."

Speaking in an election video released on the Conservative Party's official YouTube channel, Cameron said: “Either I will come back to Downing Street and carry on with the plan that's turning the country round and funding our public services, or Ed Miliband will walk into Downing Street with more debt, more spending, more taxes - all the things that got this country into a mess in the first place."

Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, assumed office five years ago in coalition with the Liberal Democrat Party.

The United Kingdom's general election will be held on May 7 and political parties will compete to enter the 650-seat lower chamber of the British parliament's House of Commons.

The deadline to register to vote in the general election is Monday 20 April, 2015.