Cost of living will remain focus for Labour in 2014 says Miliband

Mr Miliband’s pledge to freeze energy bills earlier this year put the Coalition on the back foot but the Government has hit back with a series of measures aimed at showing Ministers are in tune with the pressure on family budgets.

Ministers have also been buoyed by a run of positive news on the economy but in his New Year message today the Labour leader insists the “biggest cost-of-living crisis in a generation” will remain the central political dividing line.

“The Tories want to change the conversation from the cost of living crisis. They will talk about anything else.

“Inherent in their vision is not a solution to the cost-of-living crisis, but the problem. I have a much more optimistic vision about what the country can achieve,” he says.

His comments coincide with new figures from the GMB union suggesting the real value of average earnings has fallen across the country by almost 14 per cent since the recession five years ago.

In some areas the decline is much greater, including Sheffield where the fall is 23 per cent.

Mr Miliband uses his New Year message to confront the accusation that while Labour has scored tactical victories in recent months it remains vague over how it would govern.

He says: “People do not want the earth.

“They would much prefer some very specific promises, specific things about what a government will do – whether it’s freezing energy bills, taking action on pay day lenders or tackling issues around childcare which lots of working parents face.

“All of this is adding up to a programme for how we can change things.

“It’s clearly costed, it’s credible and it’s real.

“We are going to show to people in 2014 how, by standing up for the right people, by being willing to take on the powerful interests and make big changes in our economy, we can deal with the cost of living crisis both now and in the future so that we can earn and grow our way to a higher standard of living for people.”