Balls: 'We Have Learnt From Our Mistakes'

Ed Balls insisted Labour had learned from its mistakes as he set out plans that would see politicians' pay cut, a bank levy to pay for free childcare and a child-benefit freeze.

In an attempt to show the party could be trusted with the economy, the shadow chancellor said he would not "duck" the tough decisions and hinted at fresh welfare cuts.

He said he believed in tax cuts for the "millions not the millionaires", pushing forward a 50p income tax rate for those earning more than £150,000.

And he said any extra money would be pumped into the NHS, which Labour would have to save from the Tories again when it returned to power after the 2015 election.

Mr Balls says a cap in child benefit rises will save £400m

In a speech to the Labour Party Conference in Manchester, Mr Balls hit out at the "unfair, out-of-touch and failing Tory Government", pledging to raise the minimum wage and scrap the so-called bedroom tax.

However, he earned groans from delegates when he said the benefits cap would remain as he laid out precisely how a Labour government would "balance the books".

New free schools would be blocked in areas where there was an excess of pupil places, police and crime commissioners would be scrapped and the controversial "shares for rights" scheme, which allows workers to give up some rights such as unfair dismissal in return for shares, ditched.

He also took the opportunity to thank Alistair Darling, Jim Murphy and a host of other Labour names for their efforts on the Scottish Referendum campaign trail - but, crucially, failed to namecheck Gordon Brown.

Mr Brown gave what commentators called the "speech of his political life" in the dying days of the campaign, which has been credited with providing a significant boost to the Better Together campaign.

The shadow chancellor presented a 1% cap on rises for the first two years of a Labour government, which would raise £400m, as one of the "tough decisions" needed to deal with the deficit if the party takes power next year.

But he attempted to show that politicians were expected to shoulder their share of the £75bn deficit burden by announcing a 5% cut in ministerial salaries - taking £7,125 off the Prime Minister's annual wage and £6,728 from Cabinet ministers.

A 5% cut in ministerial salaries is also on the cards

Mr Balls insisted: "We are tough enough to make the difficult decisions. We won't spend money we can't afford."

He apologised for the party's past mistakes, including over immigration. He indicated they would put it right with tougher rules on immigrants claiming benefits and on bank regulation.

However, he said: "It's the oldest truth in the book - you can never, ever trust the Tories with the NHS.

"We don't just need to learn from our mistakes, we also need to put right mistakes this Government is making."

He pledged Labour would not "walk away from Europe" and said the party had learned from its past and mistakes.

Sky's Deputy Political Editor Joey Jones said Mr Balls was "wheeling out a whole sheaf of policies that have been announced over past months/years."

The speech earned Mr Balls a pat on the back from Ed Miliband. During the speech, Mr Balls praised him as a fine leader and "the next prime minister of the UK".

The leader of the Unite union, Len McCluskey, said freezing child benefit was not the "cleverest tactic" as he disclosed the union had yet to decide what it would contribute to the party's election war chest.

He told BBC Radio 4: "We want our party to go into the election not with one arm tied behind its back because the Tories' coffers are spilling over with money from the super rich and the corporate elite.

"We want it to be an even fight but we haven't spoken about the specific numbers."

The party also has plans to raise the minimum wage to £8 an hour, and introduce a jobs guarantee for young people and the long-term unemployed funded by a tax on bank bonuses and limiting pensions tax relief for the highest earners.

Treasury Exchequer Secretary Priti Patel poured scorn on Mr Balls' plan for the economy, claiming Labour would put the deficit up, not down.

The Children's Society said Labour's plans to freeze child benefit would leave the average family more than £400 a year worse off by 2017 and urged the shadow chancellor to reconsider.

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