Labour's leadership contenders have all described themselves as socialists as they took part in a live televised hustings in Norwich.
The five candidates all agreed with the label, which arguably would have been seen as a damaging admission to make under New Labour.
And they called on the party to focus on the future and move on from the years under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, which were dominated by internal warfare between the two rival camps.
In the Sky News debate they all stressed Labour still had much to learn from its punishing defeat at the hands of voters in the recent general election.
Shadow education secretary Ed Balls said Labour had to have a "distinctive message" on the "big issues" that people cared about such as jobs, housing and student finance.
He said: "We have go to get back on people's sides...if we get that right we can win again."
Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, warned Labour had become "dangerously disconnected" with ordinary people, adding: "It looked at times that we were on the side of big business...that we were going cap in hand to elites in the media and business and not standing up for what we believe is right, our principles."
Ed Miliband, who received a boost when a poll found he has the majority of support from gay voters in the leadership election, stressed the party needed to reach out to middle and lower income voters, move on from New Labour and have the "courage" to change.
His brother David said the message he was getting on the doorsteps was clear: "Labour wasn't offering enough...people didn't think we were on their side on and on jobs, on crime, on welfare they didn't think we were clear enough in what we were saying or what we wanted to do for the future."
Left-winger Diane Abbott said: "I think we have to restore trust in politics, I think there was a collapse in trust in politicians generally across the country."
Labour's leadership contenders have all described themselves as socialists as they took part in a live televised hustings in Norwich.
The five candidates all agreed with the label, which arguably would have been seen as a damaging admission to make under New Labour.
And they called on the party to focus on the future and move on from the years under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, which were dominated by internal warfare between the two rival camps.
In the Sky News debate they all stressed Labour still had much to learn from its punishing defeat at the hands of voters in the recent general election.
Shadow education secretary Ed Balls said Labour had to have a "distinctive message" on the "big issues" that people cared about such as jobs, housing and student finance.
He said: "We have go to get back on people's sides...if we get that right we can win again."
Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, warned Labour had become "dangerously disconnected" with ordinary people, adding: "It looked at times that we were on the side of big business...that we were going cap in hand to elites in the media and business and not standing up for what we believe is right, our principles."
Ed Miliband, who received a boost when a poll found he has the majority of support from gay voters in the leadership election, stressed the party needed to reach out to middle and lower income voters, move on from New Labour and have the "courage" to change.
His brother David said the message he was getting on the doorsteps was clear: "Labour wasn't offering enough...people didn't think we were on their side on and on jobs, on crime, on welfare they didn't think we were clear enough in what we were saying or what we wanted to do for the future."
Left-winger Diane Abbott said: "I think we have to restore trust in politics, I think there was a collapse in trust in politicians generally across the country."