Miliband says bankers are partly to blame for unrest
ED Miliband, the leader of the opposition, yesterday said “greedy, selfish and immoral” bankers shared some responsibility for last week’s riots.
The Labour leader said: “We can’t honestly say the greed, selfishness and gross irresponsibility that shocked us all so deeply is confined to the looters or even to their parents.
“It’s not the first time we’ve seen this kind of me-first, take what you can culture. The bankers who took millions while destroying people’s savings: greedy, selfish, and immoral.”
Miliband also identified politicians caught up in the expenses scandal and journalists responsible for the tabloid phone hacking scandal as groups that had set a poor example.
He said: “People who talk about the sick behaviour of those without power, should talk equally about the sick behaviour of those with power.
“Too often we have sent a message from the top to the bottom of Britain’s society that says: anything goes, you are in it for yourself.”
Miliband was speaking as he launched a “national conversation” on the causes behind the riots. He dismissed the Prime Minister’s responses as “knee-jerk gimmicks”.