Ed Balls is calling for money to be made available for more affordable housing
Labour leadership candidate Ed Balls has criticised the “daily episodes” of the “soap opera” surrounding fellow contenders Ed and David Miliband.
Calling for £6bn to be invested in affordable homes, he said their rivalry “did not do justice to the issues”.
Meanwhile, Lord Kinnock has weighed in, labelling Lord Mandelson as “out of date” in a letter to the Times.
The BBC’s Carole Walker said tension was rising ahead of the start of voting on Labour’s leadership, on Wednesday.
The final weeks of the battle have been dominated by the “increasingly fractious battle” between the Miliband brothers, our correspondent added.
Mr Balls added that the “Miliband soap opera” and the debates about Old and New Labour took away from the issues at stake.
Former Labour leader Lord Kinnock, who is backing Ed Miliband as future leader, said in his letter that Lord Mandelson was “indulging in the sort of personalised factionalism that has inflicted such damage on our party in ancient and modern history”.
His comments come after Ed Miliband hit back at veiled criticism from Lord Mandelson.
Lord Mandelson had said Labour could be left in an “electoral cul-de-sac” if its next leader tried to create a “pre-New Labour party” – seen to be referring to the younger Mr Miliband in particular.
He was reacting after Ed Miliband suggested New Labour had feared increasing taxes for high earners, had displayed an aversion to Old Labour’s anti-Americanism and had suffered from an unnecessary desire to protect the public from the views of Labour members.
Speaking to the Times, Lord Mandelson addressed Mr Miliband’s criticisms of New Labour.
He said: “I think that if he or anyone else wants to create a pre-New Labour future for the party then he and the rest of them will quickly find that that is an electoral cul-de-sac.”
The peer also accused Roy Hattersley and Lord Kinnock of wanting to “hark back to a previous age”.
Voting in the contest will take place between 1 and 22 September with the winner being announced on the first day of the party’s conference in Manchester on 25 September.
The other candidates are Diane Abbott and Andy Burnham.
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