Miliband calls for 'national conversation'

The leader of the Labour party has said that we must seek out the causes of last week's riots in English cities as part of "a genuine national conversation". In a speech at a North London school Ed Miliband said a Commons select committee inquiry, a civil-service led review of government policy or a "standard" judicial inquiry would not be sufficient. "We need an answer which comes from the people themselves, that listens to the victims, that builds on their own experiences," he said. "If the prime minister wants to know the solutions, he should come to these communities and have the humility to listen. "You should have nothing to fear from the truth." He said the "national conversation" should include young people with experience of gang culture. "The hearings should not happen in Whitehall or the palace of Westminster but in the areas which experienced the riots, and those that did not." Miliband also attacked prime minister David Cameron and other ministers of "an unseemly attempt by government to take credit for operational decisions when things went well and to criticise them when things didn't". In a speech earlier today Cameron announced a review of "every aspect of our work to mend our broken society, on schools, welfare, families, parenting, addiction, communities, on the cultural, legal, bureaucratic problems in our society too". Cameron attacked "the twisting and misrepresenting of human rights that has undermined personal responsibility" and "the obsession with health and safety that has eroded people’s willingness to act according to common sense". Miliband accused him of "reaching for shallow and superficial answers". "We need to ask why many young people don't have the role models that can put them on the right path in life," he said. "And we need to understand the link between the problems in our society and the way our economy works. "We need to ask what we can do about an economy where children don’t see enough of their parents because they are working 50, 60, even 70 hours a week." Miliband said young people need a stake in society. "A stake in society requires a ladder you can climb. "A stake demands that the things you value be within reach. "So I hope as part of any commission, we look at these deeper issues of inequality. "What I know is this: "We cannot let these be the seven days in August which shook our nation, which our nation then forgot. "That's why our national conversation is so important. "Reaching across the gap between parallel lives. A gap that might only be as wide as your street. "So I urge the prime minister to establish this commission of inquiry without delay. "If he does not do it, in the coming days I will. It is right for the victims. It is right for the country. "It is right to build the society we need."