Ed
Miliband’s Resignation Speech
8 May 2015
Thank you for your kindness,
friends. Friends, this is not the speech I wanted to give today because I
believe that Britain needed a Labour government. I still do, but the public
voted otherwise last night. Earlier today, I rang David Cameron to congratulate
him. I take absolute and total responsibility for the result and our defeat at
this election.
I am so sorry for all of those
colleagues who lost their seats. Ed Balls, Jim Murphy, Margaret Curran, Douglas
Alexander, and all the MPs and indeed candidates who were defeated. They are
friends, colleagues, and standard bearers for our party. They always have been,
and they always will be.
I also want to congratulate all
our candidates who were elected yesterday and who will help take our party
forward as well.
I want to thank those people who
ran our campaign. It was the most united, cohesive, and enjoyable campaign I’ve
ever been involved in. I want to thank Douglas Alexander, Lucy Powell, Spencer
Livermore, and most of all, all of you, the incredible team at the Labour
Party.
And I also today want to thank
the incredible team of Labour Party members, activists, and all those people
who’ve pounded the streets over the past months.
Friends: Britain needs a strong
Labour Party. Britain needs a Labour Party that can rebuild after this defeat
so we can have a government that stands up for working people again. And now
it’s time for someone else to take forward the leadership of this party, so I’m
tendering my resignation taking effect after this afternoon’s commemoration of
VE Day at the Cenotaph. I want to do so straight away because the party needs
to have an open and honest debate about the right way forward without
constraint.
Let me say that Harriet Harman is
the best Deputy Leader that anyone could hope for. I worked for her more than
20 years ago, I am proud to have had her as my deputy for my term of
leadership.
She will take over until a new
leader is elected. For me, I’m looking forward to reacquainting myself with
Justine, Daniel, and Sam. But before I do, I want to say a few things. First of
all, thank you to the British people. Thank you to the people who’ve met me on
train stations and colleges, in workplaces and schools. Thank you for sharing
your stories with me, I have learnt so much for you.
It has been an enormous
privilege. Thank you for the selfies, thank you for the support, and thank you
for the most unlikely cult of the 21st century, Milifandom.
Second, I want to address those
who voted Labour yesterday. Today you’ll feel disappointed, even bleak, but
while we may have lost the election, the argument of our campaign will not go
away; the issue of our unequal country will not go away. This is the challenge
of our time, the fight goes on, and whoever is our new leader, I know Labour
will keep making the case for a country that works for working people once
again.
Third, I believe in our United
Kingdom, not just because it is our country, but because it is the best way of
serving the working people of our country. You know, I believe that there is
more that unites us than divides us across the whole United Kingdom and all of
us in the months and years ahead must rise to the challenge of keeping our
country together.
Finally, I want to say something
to my party. Thank you to you. Thank you for the privilege. I joined this party
at 17. I never dreamed I would lead it. It has been an incredible force for
progress from workers’ rights to the NHS to the minimum wage.
No other party in British
politics can boast these achievements and yes, it will be a force for progress
and change once again. And to all the Labour party members, you’re the most
loyal, supportive, amazing people, I thank all of you today. I am truly sorry I
did not succeed. I have done my best for nearly five years.
Now you need to show your
responsibility. Your responsibility: not simply to mourn our defeat but to pick
yourself up and continue the fight. We’ve come back before and this party will
come back again.
And if I may, I say to everyone
in our party: conduct this leadership election with the same decency, civility,
and comradeship that we believe is the way the country should be run.
I believe I have brought a
culture to this party, an ability to have disagreement without being
disagreeable. I urge everyone to keep this in mind in the months ahead.
Finally, I want to say this. The
course of progress and social justice is never simple or straightforward.
Change happens because people don’t give up, they don’t take no for an answer,
they keep demanding change.
This is my faith: where we see
injustice, we must tackle it. In a couple of hours I will no longer be leading
this party, but you see, for me, that has never been the only way to achieve
change, because I believe it isn’t simply leaders who achieve change, it is
people who make change happen. I will never give up on that idea, I will never
give up on that cause, I will never give up on fighting for the Britain I
believe in.
That faith will always be my
faith, that fight will always be my fight, that cause will always be my cause –
and I will always be there in that cause with all of you. Thank you very much. |
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