Ed Miliband focuses on inequality in first Commons speech

Ed Miliband has used his first speech in the House of Commons since resigning as Labour leader to urge action against inequality in Britain.

Mr Miliband told MPs it was an issue that transcended political divides.

He said there was increasing recognition that inequality gaps were bad for everybody, not just the poor.

The Doncaster North MP also reflected on Labour's election defeat, saying the party had some "hard and painful thinking" to about about why it lost.

Mr Miliband quit as leader after Labour's disappointing performance at the general election.

Speaking from the backbenches for the first time in nine years, he told MPs he was "deeply disappointed" by the result, "for which I take full responsibility".

Congratulating David Cameron on his electoral victory, Mr Miliband said "how he seeks to use the mandate will really define his legacy".

He told MPs he welcomed the PM's commitment to "govern for one nation".

But he questioned whether the rhetoric was compatible with plans for £12bn of welfare cuts and a country where "a million people go to food banks".

Inequality, low pay and a compassionate social security system were the three tests "appropriate for a government claiming the mantle of 'one nation'", he said.

He had been welcomed to the Commons by Chancellor George Osborne, who said his appearance so soon after the election defeat would earn him the respect of the whole House of Commons.

Whatever their differences during the election, Mr Osborne said, Mr Miliband's integrity or the sincerity of his convictions was never in doubt.

The former Labour leader was listened to in respectful silence as he delivered he speech, which came during a debate on the economic aspects of the Queen's Speech.

"A huge question facing all Western democracies... is whether we're comfortable with the huge disparities that exist, whether we are fated to have them and whether we want to even try to confront them," Mr Miliband said.

"Personally I believe we will have to, and I think this an issue for right and left.

"The old idea was that inequality was necessary for economic growth but we now know that the deep structural challenges of our economy, of low productivity, are bound up with high inequality, in my view," he added.

The ex-Labour leader cautioned that there would be no "easy solutions" to eradicating inequality in Britain.

But he said progress could be made by tackling insecure work and in-work poverty, something he described as "the modern scourge of our time".

"It should be a basic principle that if you go out to work you shouldn't be living in poverty, but we are so far from that in Britain today," he said.

Mr Miliband emphasised the need for a "progressive" tax system and a "compassionate social security system".

At the start of his speech, Mr Miliband joked that he had been brought down to earth after his election defeat by something his six-year-old son has said to him.

He recalled how his eldest turned to him to reassure him the family would be OK if there was a house fire, as the fire brigade would know who he was because "you used to be famous".