Labour conference: Miliband vows 'new bargain'

Ed Miliband will vow to end Britain's "fast-buck" culture and ensure the "right people" are rewarded, in a speech to Labour's annual conferenceThe Labour leader will say later that the country needs "a new bargain based on a different set of values".The speech will urge changes to the welfare system and how businesses are run, but offer no policy announcements.The Conservatives said it was the last Labour government "that gave us the 'something for nothing' culture".Mr Miliband's speech - his biggest since being elected Labour leader a year ago - will give delegates in Liverpool a flavour of what the party might include in its next manifesto once it has concluded its current policy review.Among the ideas Mr Miliband will talk about are tax incentives for companies that make a contribution to the economy through training and long-term investment.And he will draw a distinction between genuine wealth creators - who he will say should be championed and encouraged - and "asset-stripping predators"."Let me tell you what the 21st Century choice is: are you on the side of the wealth creators or the asset strippers?" Mr Miliband will say."For years as a country we have been neutral in that battle; they've been taxed the same, regulated the same, treated the same, celebrated the same. They won't be by me."He will also float the idea - already being piloted by two Labour councils, Manchester and Newham in London - that people who make a contribution to the local community will be allowed to jump housing queues."When we have a housing shortage choices have to be made," he will say. "Do we treat the person who contributes to their community the same as the person who doesn't? My answer is no. Our first duty should be to help the person who shows responsibility."And he will argue for a "something for something" culture in schools and call for a new effort to get children from poor backgrounds to university.The Labour leader has this week come under fire from union leaders angry at his failure to back their planned day of action on 30 November over cuts to their members' pensions.And he also faced criticism from some of his own MPs, including ex-minister Tessa Jowell, that voters are not listening to the party.But Mr Miliband believes that in the wake of the banking crisis and the summer riots, voters are crying out for a new kind of society in which the responsible and the "grafters" - those who work hard - are properly rewarded.He will talk in his speech of a "quiet crisis" in Britain and the "failure of a system" which too often rewarded "not the right people with the right values, but the wrong people with the wrong values".He will add: "Labour will always stand as the voice of the people, our people. Their values will be heard. And we will challenge the vested interests that benefit when the wrong values are rewarded."Never again should they be able to take advantage of a system which doesn't work to the values and instincts of decent people in our country."Conservative Party co-chairwoman Baroness Warsi said: "It was Labour's 13 years in office that gave us the 'something for nothing' culture. If Ed Miliband was serious about turning that around, he wouldn't be opposing our reforms to the welfare system to make work pay."It was under Labour that small businesses were strangled with red tape. If they were serious about supporting small businesses they wouldn't be opposing our plans to cut regulation and make it easier for small businesses to create jobs."And it was under Labour that social mobility stalled. If they were serious about giving pupils real chances, they wouldn't be opposing the pupil premium or our plans for more good school places."  From / BBC