Ed Miliband’s election as new Labour leader is good for civil society organisations because of the pressure he will be able to exert over Labour councils considering how to cut their budgets, according to Navca chief executive Kevin Curley.

“People overlook the fact that Labour still controls a lot of local councils," said Curley, "and there is a well-known tendency for Labour-controlled councils, when funding is tight and there is pressure from the trade unions, to suck money back in-house and provide services themselves.

“But right throughout Ed’s time as minister for civil society, he always insisted that money should be awarded according to the evidence base, not according to who provides the service.”

He said the sector should now remind Miliband of this to encourage him to influence Labour council leaders to make budget cuts on the basis of “objective criteria and the evidence base, and to stop the tendency to look after their own people first”.

Despite the reputation portrayed by the national media that Miliband will be in thrall to the unions more than the other leadership candidates, Curley said his experience as minister for the sector would give him some authority when he is talking to leaders of Labour councils.

Curley also said that Ed’s experience as former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change put him in a strong position to show real leadership, even in Opposition, in boosting local grassroots action on climate change, by all kinds of civil society groups, not just environmental ones.

Curley had been backing Ed (pictured) for Labour leader since 2006, when he was caught on microphone at the Navca conference telling others on the stage that they had just heard a speech from a future Labour Prime Minister.