Young Pretender must show that the crown fits

To make his the fourth name on the winners' list, the Doncaster North MP needs to overcome a number of pressing challenges at the next General Election. The first is the collapse in Labour's share of the vote – five million fewer people backed the party in 2010 compared with 1997.

This is not a short-term problem simply attributable to the recession and Gordon Brown's lack of je ne sais quoi. Labour's share of the vote has fallen for three elections in a row, suggesting a more fundamental rethink is required. To recoup this amount of ground, Miliband junior needs to do much more than appeal to Labour's core support and to disaffected Liberal Democrats.

In his first newspaper interview, the new leader signalled recognition of this, pledging to readers of the Sunday Telegraph that he would show his party to be "on the side of the squeezed middle in our country and everyone who has worked hard and wants to get on". Ed Miliband knows as well as anyone that Labour needs to rebuild a broad base of support that reaches across boundaries of both class and geography.

At present, the party has just 10 MPs in the South of England, outside London, while Labour strongholds in Scotland, Wales and the North of England will see their seat numbers reduced at the next election as a result of government plans to equalise the size of constituencies.

The cornerstone of Labour's pitch to the country at the next election will be its critique of the coalition's handling of the economy in general and the deficit in the public finances in particular. It is crucial therefore for the new leader that he gets this right. His first big decision in this regard will be over the appointment of his Shadow Chancellor.

The MP for Morley and Outwood, Ed Balls, is the favourite for the post and would clearly relish the job of taking on George Osborne over the impending spending review. Balls is a man of substantial intellect and was the only candidate in the leadership election to develop a coherent and persuasive case against

the scale and timing of the coalition's cuts.

But his appointment is not without risks for Miliband. The nature of his election, by the slimmest of margins over his brother, means that his first priority will be to unite the party.

Ed Balls' reputation as a hard-nosed operator and his ber-Brownite credentials make him a divisive figure within Labour. Given that the new leader was also a long-standing confidant of the Brown camp, the more Blairite elder Miliband would have been a better bet in

this respect if he could have

been persuaded to stay on the front bench.

Balls's closeness to Brown could also damage his standing with the electorate, many of whom regard his former mentor as the primary architect of the deficit crisis. On the other hand, should Balls be proved right in forewarning that taking the axe to public spending will plunge the economy back into recession, he will be best placed to excoriate the coalition's approach.

Going beyond the immediate problems facing the economy, Ed Miliband needs to lead his party in developing a new narrative about the purpose and future direction of his party.

The obvious temptation, which he betrayed during the leadership campaign, will be to play to the gallery by vigorously opposing spending cuts without spelling out alternatives.

But Labour requires a reasoned approach, as Miliband himself admitted in his conference speech, which demonstrates a credible alternative that could govern in the national interest, not merely oppose in the sectional interest. With

every unpopular cut they announce, this will be the charge Clegg and Cameron lay at Labour's door.

Having been elected with majority support in just one segment of the Labour movement (the trade unions) Miliband now needs to articulate how he will represent not only all sections of his party, but the country. Having seized the crown, it will be fascinating to see whether the Young Pretender is up to the task.