Cameron hits back at Miliband over migrant remarks

The Labour leader dismissed any suggestion he was implying the PM had "blood on his hands".

"Anyone who reads my speech would see that is very, very wide of the mark. The only people trying to whip up a big storm about this are the Conservative party," he said. "I am making a very important point, I believe, about post-conflict planning in Libya.

Attempting to burnish his credentials as potential prime minister in a sweeping foreign policy speech, Mr Miliband claimed Mr Cameron had put party interests ahead of the country by pandering to rightwing eurosceptics.

However, the Labour leader has himself been criticised for taking little interest in foreign affairs as opposition leader - he has made few foreign visits - although his refusal to countenance an EU referendum is welcomed elsewhere in Europe.

Mr Miliband alleged Mr Cameron's policy of renegotiating Britain's EU membership and then putting the result to a referendum has helped give the impression of a country pulling back from the world.

"The government he led has stepped away from the world, rather than confidently towards it," he said. "We have been sidelined in crucial international events time after time under this government, just at the moment when we needed to engage."

David Cameron argues that by renegotiating a better deal for Britain in the EU and then putting it to a vote, he will settle the question of the UK's future in Europe and bolster its influence.

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Mr Miliband also alleged that Britain was sidelined in European efforts to halt the war in Ukraine.

"Was there ever a more apt symbol of Britain's isolation and waning influence than when the leaders of Germany and France tried to negotiate peace with President Putin and the prime minister of the United Kingdom was nowhere to be seen?" he asked.

Meanwhile, Mr Miliband also promised a Labour government would spend more than the Conservatives on defence, a somewhat theoretical pledge because Tory spending plans on the military have not been set out.

George Osborne, chancellor, has said that decisions on defence spending would be taken as part of an autumn spending review. Neither Conservatives nor Labour have promised to meet the Nato target of spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence.

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