Miliband plugs plan to boost capitalism

"A responsible capitalism is a resilient capitalism," he declared in a speech at London's Stock Exchange.

The task for Labour and for businesses was to develop "new thinking that will allow us to build the new economy," he told a gathering organised by the Policy Network think tank.

Urging higher workers' wages linked to better skills, Mr Miliband put forward his big idea of "predistribution," alongside a commitment to redistribution of wealth and tackling inequality.

"Predistribution is about saying that we cannot allow ourselves to be stuck with permanently being a low-wage economy," he explained.

"Our aim must be to transform our economy so it is a much higher skill, higher wage economy.

"Think about somebody working in a call centre, a supermarket or in an old people's home.

"Redistribution offers a top-up to their wages. Predistribution seeks to offer them more. Higher skills, with higher wages, and an economy that works for working people."

Mr Miliband argued that "the move toward a more responsible capitalism is actually being led by many business people."

He praised firms which invested in their workforce and knew that "companies flourish best when rewards are fairly shared."

Labour was on the side of businesspeople who took long-term decisions to achieve success, not the speculators after a fast buck.

Mr Miliband criticised new Labour for seeing its task as simply showing that it understood the dynamism of capitalism. "As a result it was harder for it to be the party to reform it," he suggested.

The Labour leader ridiculed the Tories' feeble schemes for boosting the economy.

"A one-year holiday from the current rules on planning for a conservatory extension of up to eight metres into a garden does not represent an economic plan," he mocked.

Labour's plan for growth and jobs included major investment projects in schools, roads and transport.

A new British Investment Bank would help change the relationship between finance and the real economy.

Taxing bankers' bonuses would help build tens of thousands of new homes.

And young people must be offered a real jobs guarantee, with schools, businesses and trade unions working together to fashion a new vocational training system.