LAB spinners pull off the old “it’s a private poll” ruse

LAB spinners pull off the old “it’s a private poll” ruse

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There’s been a bit of a flurry after a piece on the Speccie Coffee House blog about the “private polling behind Labour’s energy bill swagger”.

There’s nothing it seems, that journos like more than being given sight of “private polling”. Suddenly something that might be run of the mill has that extra dimension to it and it is more likely to get covered.

For over the past month there have been any number of polls on Labour’s energy price freeze plan. The findings were that most people support in the same way that they like Christmas presents – who wouldn’t?

But there have been differing polling views on whether the public thinks it’s workable and a lot depends on how the questioning is structured. This is how the LAB private YouGov poll worded it:-

“The Conservatives have attacked Labour’s plan to freeze energy prices for 20 months as unworkable. Which one of these do you think is their main reason for saying this?

    15% responded The Conservatives genuinely believe that freezing prices is unworkable and there is no way they could force the energy companies tofreeze bills even if they were determined to do so.

    31% responded The Conservatives are taking the side of the energy companies who don’t want to do anything that could cut their profits

    20% responded The Conservatives are not taking sides, but think it is better for prices to be determined by market forces rather than set by the government

    20% responded The Conservatives are just attacking Labour’s
    policy because it’s not their idea

Is it any wonder that they wanted this in the public domain?

Mike Smithson

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