Ed Miliband makes 'hardest decision' to take on brother

The younger of the two Miliband brothers told members of his local party on Friday night of his decision to stand in the forthcoming contest before going public over the weekend. His older brother David – the ex-Foreign Secretary – is the only other declared candidate so far, though Morley and Outwood MP Ed Balls is widely expected to throw his name into the ring in the coming days.

Ed Miliband, who held the energy and climate change brief while in office with Labour, has already received the backing of a number of MPs including Leeds Central's Hilary Benn and Halifax's Linda Riordan.

And yesterday he said he wanted Labour to "reconnect with the people we lost".

"We lost different groups in the population. We lost people who have been traditionally Labour voters over issues such as immigration. I think we also lost the voters Tony Blair attracted to our party in 1997 and I would want to win them back."

But two newspaper polls suggested his brother is way out in front when it comes to popularity amongst the voters, with 32 per cent giving David their support and Ed trailing in second place with nine per cent.

Ed Miliband refused to be drawn into any criticism of his brother, saying: "One thing I'm not going to do in this contest is mis-characterise my brother because I think he's got an enormous contribution to make to our country. I love David, he's my best friend in life and it's been one of the hardest decisions I've made in my life whether to stand against him."

David Miliband also said yesterday that it was time to reunite Labour and that the days of feuding between Blairites and Brownites were "gone and over". He said: "Anyone who thinks the future is about re-creating New Labour is wrong. I think we've got to use this period to decisively break with that."

Mr Balls, meanwhile, has already received the backing of former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, and is expected to win support from the powerful Unite union if he decides to stand.