DAVID Miliband has warned of an "anaemic" Britain struggling for a decade and a political vacuum unless there is far-reaching reform.

The South Shields MP said his brother and Labour leader Ed could become Prime Minister, but warned their party against complacency.

Labour had to come up with the answers to the problems facing voters who could desert mainstream parties because of their failures over the economic and political crisis, he said in a speech last night.

The former Foreign Secretary said part of the answer was to hand cities more powers, help communities take action themselves and overhaul Parliament – although he said he did not have all the answers.

“The truth is that the 2008 global financial crisis and its aftermath have changed Western political life in a more fundamental way than is yet appreciated.

“Two years ago, in the course of the general election campaign, the question was first raised of whether Britain was facing a Greek-style meltdown.

“I argued that the greater danger was not an acute Greek tragedy, but a chronic Japanese drama, where we spent a decade struggling with anaemic or no growth.

“That is what we face,” said the South Shields MP.