Miliband sees growing anger at government

LONDON (Reuters) - Labour leader Ed Miliband said on Friday he believed there was a growing sense of anger over the government's "broken promises" on issues like student fees.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4, Miliband said he supported the right of the students to protest peacefully, but would not be drawn on whether he would join future demonstrations.

"I think people have a sense of anger and I think a lot of the anger is quite justified," Miliband said.

"A government came in, it made a series of promises, it's breaking those promises and it's going to make life a lot, lot harder for lots of people up and down the country," he added.

Len McCluskey, head of the Labour-supporting Unite union, warned this week that strikes were inevitable as anger grows over government plans to cut public spending and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson has said he expects more disorder on the streets.

Miliband was elected Labour leader in September, beating his brother David to the post as the party regroups after electoral defeat in May ended 13 years in power and brought in a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition.

The party has edged ahead of the Conservatives in opinion polls but critics say former Energy Secretary Miliband needs to raise his profile with voters.

Miliband plans to launch reviews of the party's policy and structure this weekend when Labour's National Policy Forum meets, eschewing swift headline-grabbing changes in favour of a longer-term approach.

Miliband said that Labour had become out of touch with voters on issues like low pay, bankers and the consequences of immigration.

"I think our problem was that we lost touch with people on a whole range of issues ... At the heart of our policy review is saying that we as a party have to go out and re-find where people are," he added.

Miliband confirmed he wanted to retain the 50p top rate of income tax brought in by the previous Labour government for those earning 150,000 pounds or more.

He attacked government plans to almost triple tuition fees for students to a maximum of 9,000 pounds, saying he favoured a tax on graduates.

Around 100 people have been arrested after protests over the fees turned violent in London on two occasions this month.

"I applaud young people who peacefully demonstrate. I was tempted to go out and talk to them," he said

Pressed on why he had not spoken to the protesters in Whitehall, he said "...I think I was doing something else at the time actually...

Students plan further protests on Tuesday when parliament will debate the issue.

(Editing by Steve Addison)