Labour leadership: Contenders urge focus on future

Mr Burnham said Labour could not win a general election without business support

Three Labour leadership contenders have urged the party to move on from the past as the campaign to succeed Ed Miliband have moved up a gear.

Andy Burnham said wealth creators were "heroes" and should be valued by Labour in the same way as teachers and nurses.

Yvette Cooper urged Labour to focus on the jobs of the future and not get marooned in an "analogue" past.

And Liz Kendall warned against "taking the safe option", saying investment in education was key to social mobility.

All those hoping to succeed Mr Miliband are arguing the party must broaden its appeal and rethink its relationship with business.

With nominations set to close on 15 June, the trio - as well as other candidate Mary Creagh - are seeking to build momentum and ensure that they have the backing of 35 MPs needed to get on the ballot paper.

'Sweaty and graft'

Addressing workers at Ernst & Young in London, Mr Burnham said Labour could not win a general election without business support.

The party, he said, could only regain trust if it supports those who "put in the hours, the sweat and the hard graft" to succeed and not allow itself to be characterised as a party of welfare and high public spending.

"I have never believed in levelling down, denigrating success or the politics of envy," he said. "Nor have I believed that people should be handed everything on a plate.

Yvette Cooper says Labour must listen to people about where future will come from

"It worries me that, in some people's eyes, Labour has become associated with giving people who don't want to help themselves an easy ride. That must change before we can win again."

'Listening tour'

Under his leadership, Mr Burnham said society's wealth-creators will be valued as highly as NHS staff.

"Far too rarely over the last few years has Labour spoken up in praise of the everyday heroes of our society. The small businessman or woman; the sole trader; the innovator, the inventor, the entrepreneur. The small businesses that become big businesses.

"The people with the creative spark to think of a new idea and the get-up-and-go to make it work. Who often have to fight against the odds to succeed, but put in the hours, the sweat and the hard graft to do it.

Liz Kendall said investment in education was the route to a "fairer Britain"

"So I want this message to go out loud and clear today: in a Labour Party I lead, they will be as much our heroes as the nurse or the teacher."

Mr Burnham acknowledged Labour's appeal was "too narrow" under Ed Miliband but challenged those who say it should merely focus on middle-income voters in the south of England as a route back to power.

"Politicians make a terrible mistake when they try to compartmentalise the voters and speak only to the hope and dreams of some in certain parts of the country," he added.

"Aspiration is not the preserve of those who shop at John Lewis. Aspiration is universal; it is felt by Asda and Aldi shoppers too."

Ahead of the official launch of her campaign in Yorkshire later, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has said she will set out on a "listening tour" across the UK to hear what people think Labour needs to do next.

'Crippling inequality'

Speaking at tech City in London, she said the contest was in danger of getting "stuck in the rhetoric and the battles of our party's past when it should be talking about our country's future".

Labour, she said, should be addressing the jobs of the future - incentivising new tech-start-ups outside London and taking advantage of new technology to reshape public services and move jobs not just outside London but out of the big cities too.

"Too many people are being left behind, too many women are not being included in those jobs, too many people are not getting the opportunity to be part of that," she said.

Liz Kendall told supporters at De Montfort University in Leicestershire that increased investment in early years education was the key to tackling "the crippling inequality that shames our nation and holds it back".

"We must end the scourge of illiteracy and innumeracy, broaden the horizons of our young people and give everyone a better chance in life," she said. "Under my leadership, Labour will do just that.

"And our economic credibility will be based on having a plan that starts before children are born and follows them through the ups and downs of their lives."