Labour at war: Tony Blair launches strident attack on Ed Miliband's retreat to being a 1980s-style party of protest Tony Blair issues stark warning against retreating to 1980s comfort zone Three-times election winner says Labour must not tack right on immigration and left on tax and spending But Ed Miliband's office say it is time to 'move on' from Blair's 'mistakes' Tony Blair warned Labour must not return to the comfort of the 1980s, opposing everything but offering no leadership Tony Blair today warned Ed Miliband he will not win the election if he reduces Labour to a party of protest. In his most devastating assessment of Mr Miliband's failings to date, the former Premier said Labour risks retreating to its 1980s comfort zone of opposing everything and becoming a "repository for people's anger." But in an extraordinary slapdown for the three-times election winner, the party dismissed Mr Blair insisting it was time to "move on" from the "mistakes" he made when in power. Senior Labour figures are growing increasingly uneasy at the party's failure to put forward a coherent economic plan to the voters. Mr Blair warned the party is in danger of repeating the mistakes made when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister and it slumped to its worst ever general election result in 1983. In a direct challenge to Mr Miliband's current strategy, he warned the way to win elections is 'we don't tack right on immigration and Europe, and tack left on tax and spending'. Mr Blair added: 'It keeps us out of our comfort zone but on a centre ground that is ultimately both more satisfying and more productive for party and country.' Writing in the New Statesman, he said the Conservative Party is "back clothing itself in the mantle of fiscal responsibility," cracking down on benefit scroungers and immigration. The Labour Party is back as the party opposing 'Tory cuts', highlighting the cruel consequences of the Conservative policies on welfare and representing the disadvantaged and vulnerable (the Lib Dems are in a bit of a fix, frankly). Mr Blair said the scenario was "less menacing than it seems" for the Tories. They are now going to inspire loathing on the left. But they're used to that," he said. 'The guiding principle should be that we are the seekers after answers, not the repository for people's anger' Tony Blair warns Ed Miliband They're back on the old territory of harsh reality, tough decisions, piercing the supposed veil of idealistic fantasy that prevents the left from governing sensibly... For Labour, the opposite is true. This scenario is more menacing than it seems. The ease with which it can settle back into its old territory of defending the status quo, allying itself, even anchoring itself, to the interests that will passionately and often justly oppose what the government is doing, is so apparently rewarding, that the exercise of political will lies not in going there, but in resisting the temptation to go there. In an extraordinary move Labour leader Ed Miliband, pictured this week launching his local election campaign, dismissed the intervention from Mr Blair insisting the party had to 'move on' Mr Blair went on: 'The guiding principle should be that we are the seekers after answers, not the repository for people's anger. In the first case, we have to be dispassionate even when the issues arouse great passion. In the second case, we are simple fellow-travellers in sympathy; we are not leaders. And in these times, above all, people want leadership. Politics always has to move on... Labour is learning lessons about the mistakes in office Team Miliband dismisses Mr Blair But in a brutal riposte from Mr Miliband's office, Labour insisted time has moved on since he was ousted from Number 10 in 2007. A Labour spokesman said: "It is always important to listen to Tony Blair because he has important points to make, including in this article where he emphasises our top priority must be growth and jobs. As he was the first to recognise, politics always has to move on to cope with new challenges and different circumstances. Mr Blair's article will be seen as a damning criticism of the leadership during the 1980s of Neil Kinnock, who has been a strong backer of Mr Miliband For example, on immigration, Labour is learning lessons about the mistakes in office and crafting an immigration policy that will make Britain's diversity work for all not just a few. It is by challenging old ways of doing things, showing we have understood what we did right and wrong during our time in office that One Nation Labour will win back people's trust. The Tories seized on the row as proof that voters do not consider Labour fit for power. Conservative chairman Grant Shapps said: "Tony Blair is right to warn that Labour aren't a credible party of government under Ed Miliband. Ed Miliband and Ed Balls have opposed every single difficult decision this Government has taken to fix the problems that Labour left behind - on welfare, on immigration and on the deficit. The only plan Labour have is more of what got us into this mess in the first place - more spending, more borrowing and more debt. Mr Blair also flatly rejected the argument that New Labour "created" the financial crisis, insisting the structural deficit had been below one per cent in 2007-8. But however the crisis occurred, he said, "no-one can get permission to govern unless they deal with its reality." "The paradox of the financial crisis is that, despite being widely held to have been caused by under-regulated markets, it has not brought a decisive shift to the left," he wrote. But what might happen is that the left believes such a shift has occurred and behaves accordingly. The risk, which is highly visible here in Britain, is that the country returns to a familiar left/right battle. The familiarity is because such a contest dominated the 20th century. The risk is because in the 21st century such a contest debilitates rather than advances the nation. This is at present crystallising around debates over austerity, welfare, immigration and Europe. Suddenly, parts of the political landscape that had been cast in shadow for some years, at least under New Labour and the first years of coalition government, are illuminated in sharp relief.