Ed Miliband has been accused of a “shameful” bid to make political capital from the Mediterranean refugee crisis as Labour switched its fire against David Cameron’s foreign policy.
The opposition leader is to use a keynote General Election campaign speech to suggest the deaths of hundreds of refugees fleeing North Africa are “in part a direct result” of the Prime Minister’s intervention in Libya.
“The tragedy is that this could have been anticipated,” he is due to tell the Chatham House think-tank the day after Mr Cameron attended an emergency EU summit to deal with the escalating situation.
“Since the action, the failure of post-conflict planning has become obvious. David Cameron was wrong to assume that Libya’s political culture and institutions could be left to evolve and transform on their own.
“It should have been avoided. And Britain could have played its part in ensuring the international community stood by the people of Libya in practice rather than standing behind the unfounded hopes of potential progress only in principle,” Mr Miliband is due to say.
But his words – which echo a similar charge levelled by Ukip leader Nigel Farage at the weekend – met with an angry response from the Conservatives.
A senior source said: “This is a deeply provocative and shameful intervention by a leader clearly rattled by two very bad polls last night. This takes Labour’s relentless negative campaigning to a new low.
“Ed Miliband should now apologise for trying to score political points from the terrible events we have witnessed in the Mediterranean.”
Two polls gave Conservatives a four-point lead over Labour – the kind of advantage which could leave Mr Cameron with 20 to 25 more MPs than Mr Miliband but short of a majority in the House of Commons.
One survey, for the Daily Mirror, showed Labour dipping below 30% for the first time in the General Election campaign. But another, in The Sun, had Labour in a two-point lead on 35%, to the Tories’ 33%.