One of the great problems with the Angus Reid poll is that its numbers fly in the face of the current media narrative that we are heading for a hung parliament. It must therefore be a rogue many people seem to be saying.

Another challenging aspect is its sheer consistency at a time when many of the other pollsters seem to be reporting big swings from survey to survey.

So Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems have each only moved a maximum of two points since the firm started in the UK in October. That surely says something.

The firm itself bears the name of a very big figure in world polling, Angus Reid. who is watching this carefully and is the ultimate architect of the approach that is being taken.

The whole firm has a massive interest in the success and ultimate accuracy of its UK political polls if it is to achieve its goals for this country.

I have absolutely no input into the firm’s methodology although I very much welcome the opportunity of being able to work with them..

So will it succeed with the UK general election in the way it has done in Canadian politics? Who knows but it’s great that another group of professionals are looking at UK politics from a dfferent standpoint.

Mike Smithson