I’m not anti-business – Miliband

28 September 2011 Last updated at 03:22 ET

Ed Miliband has denied that his Labour conference speech – in which he attacked “predatory” firms and a “fast-buck” culture – was “anti-business”.

He told the BBC his aim was to improve behaviour in the commercial sector and put an end to “business as usual” in an effort to improve the UK’s economy.

Large bonuses for bosses who achieve little should be phased out, he added.

But the Conservatives said he was a “weak leader telling his party what they wanted to hear”.

In his speech, Mr Miliband said the UK was crying out for a new kind of society in which responsible “grafters” were properly rewarded.

He attacked “asset-stripping” companies for damaging attempts to bring about economic recovery.

And he vowed to fight for “a new bargain in our economy so reward is linked with effort”.

‘Kick in the teeth’

But the Federation of Small Business said Mr Miliband’s call to force firms who wanted to bid for public contracts to offer apprenticeships would harm enterprise.

CBI director general John Cridland said the Labour leader was right to encourage “long-termism” but added: “With growth weak, Ed Miliband is looking for a new business model, but he must be careful not to characterise some businesses as asset strippers.”

Lord Jones, a former CBI chief and trade minister in Gordon Brown’s government, said Mr Miliband’s speech had been “divisive and a kick in the teeth” for business.

Business leaders “would feel offended and see him as displaying poor statesmanship at a time when the country needs leaders, not players to a union gallery”, Lord Jones said.

But, speaking to the BBC’s Breakfast programme, Mr Miliband sought to clarify his stance, stressing that he had referred to “good business practices” and “bad business practices”.

“People, understandably, are nervous of change. They are nervous of doing this differently and it’s my job, and I’m determined to do that, to convince them that we do need change,” he said.

“This isn’t anti-business; it’s anti-business as usual. Business as usual is not going to get us what we need as an economy.”

The Labour leader’s speech was made amidst a backdrop of falling poll ratings and attacks from union leaders leaders angry at his decision not to support a TUC day of action over pension changes.

In his address, Mr Miliband also stressed that he was his own man and that a new approach was needed.

The Labour leader praised both his predecessors, Mr Blair and Gordon Brown, but stressed: “I’m my own man and I’m going to do things my own way.”

Asked whether he saw Mr Miliband’s approach as a break from the Blair-Brown era, former Labour leader Lord Kinnock said: “I would have been very disappointed if we had a new leader, now many years nger than either Tony Blair or Gordon Brown, a product of different experiences, who didn’t say ‘We’ve got to develop a new way of analysing, and acting to serve the purposes of the next 10 years and beyond’.”

— ’re ’s , . : A ‘Malign Intellectual Subculture’ – George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.