Miliband against British "fatalism"

David Miliband seeks domestic policy improvement

Sunday, 21, Sep 2008 12:00

Foreign secretary David Miliband believes a "corrosive sense of fatalism" is affecting British society.

Speaking at a fringe event at the Labour party conference in Manchester, Mr Miliband warned that "the biggest task of this conference is to combat this sense of fatalism".

He told a Fabian Society audience the pessimism shown before the Olympics – "no one said we would get any medal" – reflected a wider negativity and said the same fatalism existed within the Labour party.

Mr Miliband said he wanted to see the progressive values he is working to develop in British foreign policy mirrored in politics at home.

He concluded: "In a world which is interdependent, needs our values more than never, we should be confident that foreign policy has a part to play for people who are… more in touch with global problems than any preceding set of electors. We can provide answers on domestic policy as well."