Labour leadership: Contenders debate record on spending

Prospective Labour leaders have clashed over Labour's record in government in their first public debate in the race to succeed Ed Miliband.

Former cabinet ministers including Yvette Cooper and Andy Burnham defended Labour's fiscal record and spending on schools and hospitals.

However, candidates from the 2010 intake of MPs argued that the party spent too much while in office.

The debate followed Chuka Umunna's withdrawal from the leadership contest.

The remaining candidates appeared at the annual conference of the Progress think tank in London.

There was agreement that Labour needed to demonstrate economic credibility to regain power, with shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt telling the meeting that the party needed to be "trusted with public finances and the family finances".

Mr Hunt, who was first elected to Parliament in 2010 when Labour lost power, argued the last Labour government "spent too much" and failed to "leave enough economic headroom to deal with the economic crisis and the recession".

Shadow health minister Liz Kendall said: "There's absolutely nothing progressive about spending more on debt interest payments than on educating our children."

'Triumph of spin'

But shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said: "The Tories have had a triumph of spin over the facts in saying what they said about the economic record of the last Labour government."

The former chief secretary to the Treasury said the deficit did "grow too large" in the government's later years but insisted: "The last Labour government ran more surpluses in its first term than the Tories did in 18 years."

Yvette Cooper, another former chief secretary to the Treasury, said: "We should never let anybody tell us that it was too many teachers, doctors or nurses that caused Lehman Brothers bank in New York to crash."

Shadow international development secretary Mary Creagh said: "People have forgotten the economic credibility that the last Labour government had."

She said Labour had built schools and hospitals that were "treasured in our communities".

Ms Cooper, Mr Burnham, Ms Kendall and Ms Creagh have declared their intention to run for leader, while Mr Hunt told the conference he would make an announcement next week.

At the same event, shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint announced she would be running for deputy leader.

Caroline Flint declared her intention to run for deputy leader

The Don Valley MP told the Today programme ahead of the debate that Labour lost the election because "fundamentally the public did not trust us on the economy".

Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw has already announced a bid to be deputy, saying Labour "must and could win the next election", but only if it "broadens its appeal by adopting sensible, centre-left politics which celebrate wealth creation and entrepreneurship".

Former Labour campaign co-ordinator Tom Watson is reported to be crowd-funding a deputy leadership bid, while Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy has said she is "open to the question" of running.

'Profound questions'

Barnsley East MP and shadow transport secretary Michael Dugher - a fierce critic of Ed Miliband's election campaign - is to run Mr Burnham's campaign, according to the website LabourList.

It is reported that Mr Burnham also has the backing of Labour peer Lord Falconer, who was lord chancellor and justice secretary under Tony Blair and was close to the former PM.

Lord Falconer, a cabinet minister under Tony Blair, is said to be backing Andy Burnham

Shadow culture secretary Chris Bryant has signalled his backing for Ms Cooper, tweeting that the next leader must be "someone who's been tried in the fiery furnace of public opinion".

Mr Hunt said on Friday he would be be attending the debate - along with the other four hopefuls - to "set out my analysis on how we begin to understand what went so wrong and why".

He added: "We must use this leadership election to ask some very profound questions.

"All voices in the party must be heard so that we can have a full and proper assessment as to why the politics of nationalism triumphed in Scotland and huge swathes of England, and how we have allowed the Conservative Party to present a more compelling vision for Britain to so many millions of people."

Ruled out

Speculation still surrounds shadow business secretary Mr Umunna's decision to pull out on Friday, when he said he was not "comfortable" with the "pressure" of being a candidate.

Chuka Umunna is the MP for Streatham

As well as citing extensive pressure and scrutiny Mr Umunna also said he was ruling himself out because of concerns about the impact of the bid on his family.

A rising star of the party, Mr Umunna was first elected to Parliament in 2010 - alongside Tristram Hunt and Liz Kendall - before joining the shadow cabinet.

Asked about the candidate who might win, Conservative Chancellor George Osborne said: "The Labour leadership contest has descended into farce.

"But it's not actually about personalities. I don't think the Labour Party any more represents the working people of this country who aspire to a better life."