Criticism over David Miliband's comments on Telford council HQ

"Silly talk" by former Labour leadership candidate David Miliband could put the creation of up to 2,000 jobs in Telford from the £250 million Southwater development at risk, it was warned today.

The former Foreign Secretary, who lost out to brother Ed in the race to replace Gordon Brown this year, was in Telford yesterday as part of a push to support Labour candidates standing for local council elections on May 6.

Mr Miliband went door to door in Webb Crescent, Dawley, and criticised the planned new development in the town.

He said: "A Labour council would not be spending £40 or £57 million on a new council building, that is not what we need in these tough times."

But Andrew Eade, leader of the Conservatives in Telford, said Mr Miliband did not have the "slightest clue" about Telford or the new development.

He said: "The cost of building new offices is only a fraction of what he stated, but more importantly the new development is paid for entirely by the sale of our existing offices to Asda at no cost to the taxpayer whatsoever.

"Silly talk by Miliband could shake investor confidence and cut at a stroke the 2,000 Telford jobs this development will create for the future. Clearly economics is not his strong point and I hope that he managed to catch the right train back to London."

Speaking yesterday before the start of the tour with Telford's Labour MP David Wright, Mr Miliband said: "I'm here to support the local election campaign.

"It's a council at the heart of middle England where Labour and Tory are strai- ght against each other, we want to make sure we have the maximum effort here.

Telford MP Mr Wright said it was good to have the support of Mr Miliband and claimed the May elections would be a close fought contest.

He said: "It's great to have David out here campaigning in the area, its fantastic.

"We've had a good door knocking session with people raising local issues, talking about the nuts and bolts of local politics."

By Peter Finch