The Labour contenders are nearing the finishing line
Labour’s leadership contenders have clashed over spending cuts and what the party needs to do to regain power.
In a special edition of BBC’s Question Time, Andy Burnham said they should be “honest” and admit there would have been “significant” cuts under Labour.
But Ed Balls said cuts would not create jobs and Labour should “not do the work of the coalition for them”.
David Miliband, Ed Miliband and Diane Abbott also took part in the debate to be broadcast later.
The four-month leadership contest is in its final stages, with the result due to be announced at the Labour Party conference on 25 September.
Labour MPs, MEPs, party members and members of affiliated organisations, including trade unions, have been casting their ballots since early September.
Asked what direction Labour needed to go in in order to regain power, David Miliband said he was best placed to “occupy the centre ground” and defeat the coalition at the next general election, urging Labour to “learn the lessons” of the past.
Ed Miliband dismissed claims he would take the party to the left as “nonsense” but said the party had taken working class voters for granted and would not win again without “profound change”.
The candidates also clashed over their positions on the Iraq war, Diane Abbott saying it had been illegal and proved a “turning point” in terms of public trust in Labour.
Ed Balls said Labour should apologise for having taken the UK to war on a false premise while Ed Miliband said the government had followed “the US script” too closely.
Had he known that Iraq had had no weapons of mass destruction, David Miliband said he would not have backed the war, saying it took a “terrible toll” in terms of loss of life and trust.
But Andy Burnham said he would not “back away” from his support for the war, saying he believed it had been justified on humanitarian grounds.
BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said the debate had highlighted tensions between the candidates on key issues as each sought to make ground before voting closes on Wednesday.
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