The overnight continuation thread
LAB lead back to double figures with YouGov. 33/43/8 — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) June 21, 2012
Has Boris decided that Gove must be squashed?
Is education policy becoming a leadership battleground? An intriguing battle is in prospect between the two Tory politicians who are most on the up at the moment – the victor against all the national trends in the London election last month and the cabinet minister seen by many as the most successful whose reputation was enhanced by his Leveson appearance. The big political story in London in the past 24 hours is the news in the Evening Standard that Boris…
Can the tax scams ever be stopped?
Will the Jimmy Carrs always find a way? Well done to the Times for its brilliant expose of the K2 tax arrangement under which Jimmy Carr and others are said to have reduced their income liability to just 1%. At a time of austerity and cuts this is the sort of behaviour that makes people furious even if it is technically legal. Osborne’s response has been spot on but will the tax dodgers always find a way? In any case…
Will relaxing immigration controls be a vote winner or a loser?
How much of a gamble is Obama’s liberalisation move? There’s a fascinating debate going on amongst US political pundits over the electoral impact of Obama’s relaxing of immigration controls. Last week he announced an executive order which has the effect of stopping the federal government from deporting illegal immigrants under the age of 30 who came to the US before age the age of 16. To qualify they have to have lived in the US for at least five years,…
The overnight thread – and a plug for Marf
This Sunday in Hampstead PB’s cartoonist, Marf, is doing a special drawing session on Sunday in Hampstead in North West London. Details are above. Best of luck for the day Marf. Meanwhile this is the overnight thread. Mike Smithson @MSmithsonPB
Labour maintains its 8 point Populus lead
But there’s better news for Dave on “preferred PM” There’s a new Populus telephone poll out for tomorrow’s Times which has CON 33%(nc): LAB 41%(nc): LD 9%(-1): UKIP 5% So the Labour’s lead stays constant and the tendency for phone polls to find much smaller shares for UKIP continues. On leader ratings 24% said they were “satisfied” with Cameron as PM. 32% said they were “dissatisfied… but would still prefer Dave to Ed Milibandâ€, while 31 per cent said they…
Why’s Salmond scared to use the INDEPENDENCE word?
Does the latest move smack of panic? The Scotsman is reporting today the latest in a series of developments within the SNP that suggests that all is not well with their campaign for INDEPENDENCE – which will be voted on in the 2014 referendum. The paper reports: “THE word “independence†could be dropped by the SNP because the party fears it is scaring off voters from supporting it in the forthcoming referendum. SNP politicians have been told to use the…
David Laws says the coalition won’t split before the election
The former Treasury Secretary, David Laws, who had to quite after only three weeks in June 2010 is predicting that the coalition will run its course to the May 2015 general election. Avvording to a BBC report of a conference speach Laws predicted that the two coalition parties will not formally “disengage” before the next election. “Instead, Conservative leader David Cameron and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg will “juggle two balls – setting out their own visions of the future…