The leader of the British opposition Labor Party, Ed Miliband, sharply attacked conservative Prime Minister David Cameron's foreign policy and isolationist vision of being cut off from Europe, two weeks before the British parliamentary elections.
In a speech at the Chatham House institute in London, the Labor candidate accused his rival of being responsible for Britain's biggest loss of influence and cited as an example Cameron's failure to participate in the Ukrainian peace accords.
"It is time to get rid of the isolationism and narrow-mindedness that has characterized this government. Its approach has weakened the UK at a time when it needs to face perhaps its biggest and most complex challenges since the end of the Second World War," Miliband said.
Ed Miliband also accused Cameron of failing to manage the Libyan crisis after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's regime. However, he did not say the part of the speech that was distributed to journalists in advance, in which it was hinted that this is a partial reason for the current tragedy with migrants in the Mediterranean.
That accusation, which was picked up by numerous media outlets, caused an immediate reaction from conservatives. So the Minister for Ecology, Liz Truss, asked the Labor candidate to apologize.
David Cameron called the remarks "reckless", while former Conservative foreign secretary William Hague accused him of "electoral opportunism" against a "human tragedy".
For the first time, foreign policy and current international issues are at the forefront of the campaign for the May 7 election, for which, according to polls, Labor and the Conservatives are still side by side.
On Europe, which is one of the leading issues in this election campaign, Ed Miliband accused David Cameron of "capitulating" to the Europhobic and anti-immigration party Ukip as well as to the Eurosceptic wing of the Tories by promising to hold a referendum on Remain if elected. of Great Britain in the reformed EU until 2017.
"He brought us to the brink of leaving the EU because he was too weak to control his own party and too nervous about the strengthening of Ukip. Leaving the EU would be deeply damaging to the everyday lives of our fellow citizens and the future of our country. We will never jeopardize the national interest by threatening to leave Miliband said.
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