Ed Miliband is set to distance himself from former Prime Minister Gordon Brown's stewardship of the economy and signal a break from his former boss' policies.

In his first speech as leader to Labour's annual conference, Mr Miliband will implicitly criticise Brown and his predecessor Tony Blair, who won three elections with his "New Labour" brand of centrist, business-friendly politics.

"When you saw the worst financial crisis in a generation, I understand your anger that Labour hadn't stood up to the old ways in the City, which said deregulation was the answer," Miliband, who was a confidant of Brown, says.

He will also criticise Gordon Brown's decision to say he had abolished boom and bust economics.

A new YouGov opinion poll has found that Labour is more popular than Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives for the first time in three years. It put Labour on 40 per cent and the Conservatives on 39 per cent.

Ed Miliband's speech will be scoured for signs of his stance on the unions, which hope his victory will give them a powerful ally in their fight against the coalition's cuts. They are threatening coordinated strikes against cuts they fear will lead to thousands of their members losing their jobs.

Miliband, who was Brown's energy minister, has denied he will move to the left or be a stooge of the unions.

His defeated brother David is still yet to decide if he will run for a position in the shadow cabinet.