Lord Mandelson says Ed Miliband risks taking Labour backwards

Lord Mandelson has criticised Ed Miliband’s energy plans, saying he risks taking the party backwards.

The former business secretary, who in 1997 helped mastermind New Labour’s triumphant election campaign, said Mr Miliband’s pledge to freeze energy bills could undo the industrial policy he had worked hard to shape under Tony Blair.

He said: “The industrial activism I developed showed that intervention in the economy government doing some of the pump priming of important markets, sectors and technologies was a sensible approach.”

And following Mr Miliband’s speech at the party’s annual conference, he added: “I believe that perceptions of Labour policy are in danger of being taken backwards.”

But another fellow New Labour architect Alastair Campbell disagreed with Lord Mandelson. The former director of communications said in a tweet: “Peter M wrong re energy policy being shift to left.

“It is putting consumer first v anti competitive force. More New Deal than old Labour.”