Ed Miliband Pledges To Change PMQs If He Gets Into Power

What Does Ed Miliband Think Is A Terrible Advert For Politics?

Labour leader Ed Miliband will change Prime Minister's Questions if he gets into power, he said on Wednesday evening.

Describing the weekly verbal joust in the House of Commons as a "terrible advert for politics", he said it encouraged a view that politicians were a "bunch of school kids who want to shout at each other".

And while admitting he was unsure how to alter it, he insisted he would "definitely" do so if he could.

He said: "I find the Westminster village gets much more excited about it than the population, I believe.

"I don't know how to change it so I'm not going to make false promises about changing it but I would love to change it if I could."

Speaking at a Young Norwood charity event in London, he also suggested Prime Minister David Cameron was excessively focused on what the "next day's headlines" will say about him and described the trait as "really dangerous".

Discussing how he copes with the personal attacks he suffers on a daily basis, Miliband said it was "incredibly important to stick to your instincts about what's right and wrong".

He dismissed much of the criticism as "froth and nonsense", suggesting Cameron took it more seriously than he did.

"One of the things I notice about Cameron is I think he's a bit too much 'well what's the next day's headlines?' and it's really dangerous," he said.

Miliband went on to cast doubt on Mr Cameron's Big Society idea, suggesting it had become a substitute for state involvement.

"What I worried about when David Cameron started talking about the Big Society was it was based on a view that the state would get out the way and leave the voluntary sector to pick up the pieces, and events have suggested that might well be the case," he said.

Running for the leadership of his party was "not something I ever thought I would end up doing", he added.

He had decided to stand after the 2010 general election because he thought he had "something distinctive to say", he explained.

"The Labour Party has a history of people making deals and not standing against each other," he said, adding that he did not think this was right.

Miliband fought his brother David for the party leadership and won after the unions swung behind him, but he described his brother as "very supportive" of him.

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