Former Cabinet member Ed Miliband visited the North-East yesterday as part of his campaign to secure the Labour leadership. Tony Kearney met him at Durham railway station LABOUR leadership contender Ed Miliband yesterday called for "deep renewal" of the party in the wake of last month's General Election defeat.

Speaking in Durham, on the eve of a candidates hustings meeting for party activists in the North-East, Mr Miliband called for the party to rebuild itself based on traditional values, such as equality and fairness.

He said: "The Labour Party denied the Tories a majority at the election, but when you only get 29 per cent of the vote you have to face up to the profound fact that people didn't vote for us and the party needs deep renewal.

"The voters lost a sense of who we were and what we stood for.

"I am very proud of our record, but I think in some key areas we didn't act enough: on housing; on issues surrounding people's living standards; and on conditions at work.

"My pitch is clear - we should talk more about our values, not less."

The former Energy and Cimate Change Minister spent the day campaigning in Durham City and will this morning join the four other Labour leadership candidates - his brother David Miliband, Andy Burnham, Ed Balls and Diane Abbot - for a Labour North hustings event in Newcastle, before meeting activists in Middlesbrough and Redcar, east Cleveland.

The 40-year-old is campaigning on issues, including a living wage of more than £7-an-hour, a high pay commission to deal with what he called "the scandal" of top pay and a graduate tax.

Mr Miliband described this week's Emergency Budget as "the nastiest in my political lifetime" and added: "The deficit has to be tackled, but the way they are doing it is a very, very nasty, ideological attempt to change the nature of Britain.

"They are attacking the poorest people in our society through VAT, attacking people on benefits, attacking people in the public sector and making a series of cuts well beyond what Labour would have done and in a way which is cavalier in terms of what it means for society.

"The Lib Dems need to examine their consciences this weekend - I don't think that this Budget is what Lib Dem voters voted for.

"This is such a right wing ideological agenda that the Lib Dems are embarrassed to defend the Budget, they want to run for cover and hide under the duvet.

"Cameron wants to present the image that anyone who works in the public sector is a drain on our economy and that is absolute rubbish - they are the teachers who teach our kids; the people who look after the elderly; who look after us when we're ill; who clean our streets.

"There have to be changes, but I think these cuts are ideologically motivated and will hit this area hard."