Miliband Addresses Labour Party Conference

Ed Miliband is vowing to stand up for small businesses and hard-working families as he delivers a crucial party conference speech.

The leader, speaking without notes, is unveiling plans for a £800m tax break for smaller firms - paid for by cancelling a 1% corporation tax cut due in 2015.

Mr Miliband, who has spent weeks working on his address after a summer of criticism about his leadership and his party's lack of direction, is focusing on the cost-of-living.

He insists he will stand up for ordinary workers rather than the "privileged few" he claims are currently the only ones benefitting from the economic recovery.

Borrowing a slogan from Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign in 1980, he will say voters should ask themselves in 2015 "am I better off now than I was five years ago?".

Ed Miliband and Justine arriving at the hall before his conference

Mr Miliband is hoping his address will encourage the party to move on from damaging revelations about the Blair-Brown years, as revealed in Damian McBride's memoir.

The first act of a Labour government if it regained power would be to reverse a hike in small business rates due in April 2015 and freeze the levy the following year, he will say.

Labour claims this will be worth £450 on average over two years to 1.5 million businesses and up to £2,000 for some.

But it will be paid for by scrapping the coalition's planned 1% drop in corporation tax, which has led to criticism from experts that the leader is "robbing Peter to pay Paul".

"We have to support our small businesses, the vibrant, dynamic businesses that will create wealth in Britain," Mr Miliband will say.

He will claim cuts in corporation tax by the coalition have already saved 80,000 big businesses £6bn, compared to a rise in business rates hitting small firms.

Ed Miliband with wife Justine at their hotel before his speech

Labour's freeze of the rates at 2014 levels for two years would affect properties and commercial premises with an annual rental value of £50,000 or less.

However, this would still allow some franchise-holders within major multinationals to benefit.

Mr Miliband will insist Labour will offer a "race to the top" instead of David Cameron's "race tot the bottom" where a few prosper but most workers suffer.

"You've made the sacrifices but you have not got the rewards. You were the first one into the recession, but you are the last one out," he will say.

He is also launching a "road map" for the construction of a generation of new towns in England to address the housing crisis, risking a backlash from countryside campaigners.

But he will caution activists that a Labour government would not have funds to lavish on spending hikes as Britain continues to rebuild following the recession.

"You know and I know that the next Labour government will face tough times, and there's no point in pretending otherwise," he will say.

The British Retail Consortium welcomed the planned cut in business rates but the Institute of Directors and British Chambers of Commerce were criticical.

IoD director general Simon Walker warned it would harm Britain's competitiveness and put off foreign investors at a time when the country had to show it was open for business.

He said: "The Government has spent three years telling the world that we are open for business, and reductions in corporation tax have been a key part of that strategy.

"It's a dangerous move for Labour to risk our business-friendly environment in this way, at the same time as announcing a new bank levy."

John Longworth, the BCC's director general, added: "Labour must realise that you can't rob Peter to pay Paul... We question why a freeze or cut in business rates for smaller firms should be offset by a delayed reduction in corporation tax.

"To create an environment where companies can thrive, both business rates and corporation tax rates have to be contained, and the broken business rates system fundamentally reformed."

Matthew Sinclair, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, added: "Business leaders at firms of all sizes are crying out for a cut in business rates, but it is pure fantasy to pretend that the cost can be covered by hiking corporation tax.

"Higher taxes on profits will put at risk the investments and jobs which the economic recovery should bring with it and reduce tax revenue over time.

"It will be workers who suffer with lower wages and more pressure on their family budgets. A cut in business rates should be funded by cutting out waste and unnecessary spending rather than hiking another tax."

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