If the Tories do manage to stay in power after May 7th much of the credit will go to George Osborne
That won’t harm his leadership ambitions
The autumn statement was always going to be a major event on the road to May 7th and George Osborne didn’t disappoint. So many different ideas and measures all designed to make it harder for Labour in the economic debate in the run up to the election and to block out the kippers.
Although they were well-trailed the stamp duty changes look right for that “middle” audience which the Tories have to bring back or keep on board.
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The main point of this afternoon was to get the pre-election focus back on the economy, where the Tories believe that they’ve a strong hand, and away from areas like immigration where UKIP has been making the running.
I liked the sheer breadth of the proposals which should enable to the Tory team to keep on message certainly until Xmas – May 7th is about whether the country is prepared once again to risk it with LAB.
George will get some good headlines tomorrow in the papers that usually support the blues and there might be a boost in the polls – maybe more firms will have CON leads.
The coming few days will see fieldwork starting in the main monthly phone polls and, of course, there is the weekly Ashcroft poll. To enter the holiday season with three or four pollsters reporting CON leads would be a great boost.