Beckett report: Labour failed to overcome the “myth” and convince voters it could be trusted on the economy
The day after her report into Labour's defeat at last year's election was published, Dame Margaret Beckett has said the party has been "honest" in facing up to what went wrong.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Beckett said the single biggest problem Labour faced was that it couldn't overcome the perception it couldn't be trusted on the economy. She said it had Labour failed to challenge the "myth" it caused the financial crash of 2008.
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"I think it would be widely accepted among the Labour movement and beyond that this nonsense that the economy was crashed because we spent too much on schools and hospitals, and that somehow crashed the economy in America and Japan, is a myth," she said.
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The report also places some blame on former Labour leader Ed Miliband, who was seen as "weaker" than Prime Minister David Cameron. But Beckett said it would be a mistake to completely place the blame on Miliband, as there is a deeper issue of "trust and understanding" with the British people.
"All I was saying about Ed is that it's not right to say it's all about him, and he was very badly treated by some elements of the media," she added. "We have to deal with that."