Harman: Labour WON'T oppose EU Referendum bill

The acting Labour leader has U-turned on her party's previous policy of opposing any attempt to hold a European referendum.

Writing in the Sunday Times, Ms Harman and the shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn admitted voters wanted a say on membership, but warned against a 'Brexit'.

They said: "We have now had a general election and reflected on the conversations we had on doorsteps throughout the country. The British people want to have a say on the UK's membership of the European Union. Labour will therefore now support the EU referendum bill when it comes before the House of Commons."

The politicians said that they would support Britain staying in Europe.

They said: "In an age of powerful trade blocs, with the growing economies or Asia and Africa, we have more power by being in the EU than we could ever hope to have by acting alone. 

"That is the argument we will make in this referendum, as the British people make their decision."

The Labour reversal comes as one of the party's 'big beasts' threw his weight behind Andy Burnham in the leadership contest.

John Prescott says Mr Burnham, who is emerging as the hot favourite in the race to replace Ed Miliband, has a lot of the 'skills and qualities' that Tony Blair had.

In his Sunday Mirror column Lord Prescott said: "Before Tony became our leader, he spent 11 years as an MP. In that time he learned his brief, gained the -experience, handled the media and won the public's trust with an overwhelming landslide.

"I have seen a lot of those skills and qualities in Andy Burnham during his 13 years as an MP. 

"Many people talk about aspiration but Andy is a living example - a working class lad from Liverpool who went to a comprehensive and got a place at Cambridge University."

He added: "Andy also has that one thing all leaders crave - the common touch. I've seen him in small groups and big meetings

"People instantly warm to the guy. He's a family man who loves his football. He's not just faking it like Cameron to be popular.

"Tony was a winner. 

"We now need someone who can earn the trust of the public and has an insatiable desire to help everyone get on in life."

But one part of the MP for Leigh's past came back to haunt him today.

Julie Bailey, the whistleblower who exposed the Mid Staffordshire hospital scandal, said Mr Burnham was a 'grossly unsuitable' candidate for leader of the opposition.

She told the Mail on Sunday: "While health secretary, Andy Burnham presided over a culture of denial and cover-up over NHS care scandals that cost lives in failing hospitals across the country.

"From ignoring repeated warnings about high hospital death rates, to dodging calls for a public inquiry, Andy Burnham put politics before patients every time."

She added: "We believe him to be a grossly unsuitable candidate. It would be a disaster for patients if he was ever to become health secretary again, let alone assume any higher public office.

The leadership contender's spokesman said: "Mr Burnham ordered the first and second inquiries into the terrible care failings at Mid Staffordshire, against civil service advice at the time. "

It is concerning that the Tories are not implementing the recommendations of those reports."

Mr Burnham's main challenger, Yvette Cooper, has aid she wants the party to rebuild and reach out to voters who turned their backs on her party at this month's election.

Mother-of-three Ms Cooper, whose husband and former shadow chancellor Ed Balls lost his Westminster seat in the general election, said Labour had to offer hope to families.

In an interview with The Sun on Sunday, she said: "We need to put families at the heart of our politics. As a mum, I feel very strongly about that because my family, my kids are the most important thing in my life.

"That has to be reflected in what we do. We have got to reach out and rebuild and that means winning back voters."

Ms Cooper has tried to present herself as a unity candidate for the party, warning against being dragged to the left or right by Mr Burnham or Liz Kendall respectively.

Setting out her pitch, she said: "We've got to show practical things we can do to help families get on, to know their kids can get an apprenticeship, have a good start in life and go to university. "

Mr Balls, who failed in his own leadership bid when he ran against Mr Miliband in 2010, has said he will not play a role in his "brilliant" wife's efforts to secure the job, insisting it's "her campaign, they are her ideas".

Ms Cooper said: "I'll always be my own person. I'll stand up for women and men across the country who want to do their own thing, have their own ideas and get on.

"Yes, that will mean challenging prejudice, sexism and different kinds of attitudes. But I think we can smash the glass ceiling and shake up the system."

Labour has never had a full-time female leader, although Margaret Beckett, who served on a caretaker basis after John Smith's death in 1994, joins Ms Harman in the list of women acting leaders.

Three of the four candidates to have declared so far are women, with Ms Cooper joined by shadow health minister Liz Kendall and shadow international development secretary Mary Creagh.

Ms Creagh, who is the outsider of the four, criticised her party's proposed "mansion tax", describing it as 'almost impossible to administer at a local base' and introduced without shadow cabinet consultation.

Asked if she made those arguments in the shadow cabinet to Mr Miliband and then shadow chancellor Ed Balls, Ms Creagh told Murnaghan on Sky News: "This was something presented quite late on in the election when there was no shadow cabinet.

"It was presented quite late on as the way of funding the NHS and it was presented without shadow cabinet discussion so there wasn't the chance for that to be discussed."

Ms Creagh, who is the outsider of the four, criticised her party's proposed "mansion tax", describing it as 'almost impossible to administer at a local base' and introduced without shadow cabinet consultation.

Asked if she made those arguments in the shadow cabinet to Mr Miliband and then shadow chancellor Ed Balls, Ms Creagh told Murnaghan on Sky News: "This was something presented quite late on in the election when there was no shadow cabinet.

"It was presented quite late on as the way of funding the NHS and it was presented without shadow cabinet discussion so there wasn't the chance for that to be discussed."