What’ll be the political fall-out? All the signs are that a deal has been done by the coalition partners to scrap the 50p tax rate and that there’ll be some form of mansion tax. It’s suggested that the latter might be in the form of more council tax bands at the top for the most expensive dwellings. Already Ed Miliband has started attacking the plan saying that the new property tax, whatever its called, shouldn’t be used “as an excuse”…
Is the Osborne narrative being less believed? Starting just a month after the 2010 general election YouGov has been asking in the same standard format the question who do you think is most to blame for the current spending cuts? I have long regarded this as one of the key political trackers because a central part of the coalition’s strategy has been to justify all the austerity measures by putting the blame on the last Labour government. For the most…
“@politicalwire: GOP candidates in a South Carolina county must pledge no pre-marital sex and to never look at porn.. pwire.at/zl9DDJ“ — Mike Smithson (@MikeSmithsonOGH) March 5, 2012 YouGov/Sun: CON 36%, LAB 41%, LDEM 11% (via @Sun_Politics) — Tweetminster (@tweetminster) March 5, 2012 Have a good evening and if you’ve never posted on PB before – why not do so tonight? @MikeSmithsonOGH
Or could his comments actually help the DPM? The LD MP who suffered by far the biggest defeat at the general election, Lembit Opik, is saying that if Nick Clegg is still leader of his party at the general election then they will lose a lot more MPs. This is what he said in support of a book “The Alternative View” that he has co-authored: ” After a year of research, [we] have concluded that Nick cannot realistically lead the…
Ohio: Romney 37, Santorum 36, Gingrich 15, Paul 11. Flip a coin… — PublicPolicyPolling (@ppppolls) March 5, 2012 This seems like it could be a key stat- Romney up 40-23 with folks who decided in the last few days in Ohio. — PublicPolicyPolling (@ppppolls) March 5, 2012 With new PPP poll, our model now shows Romney and Santorum each with exactly a 50% chance to win OH. nyti.ms/xXzuZc — Nate Silver (@fivethirtyeight) March 5, 2012 Tennessee: Santorum 34, Romney 29,…
Why doesn’t Andrew Neil chair QuestionTime? I’ve just watched the Andrew Neil interview on the Sunday Politics with Alex Salmond. This was brilliantly handled as you’d expect from Neil who must be the UK’s top political interviewer. What I can’t understand is why Neil is put to one side for grand occasions. He famously was cast out onto a pleasure boat on the River Thames at the last election (wasn’t that total rubbish?) and he’s never given a chance being…
Will it be 2014 – or earlier? There’s an ongoing row between the SNP and the coalition about the timing of Scotland’s independence referendum. Salmond wants to defer it until October 2014 while the government would like it in 2013 when all the legal processes have been gone through. Clearly both sides see advantage in their positions. The UK government thinks an earlier date will make it harder for Salmond who clearly thinks the opposite. London has to play this…
NYT NEWS ALERT: Mitt Romney Wins Washington State Presidential Caucuses, A.P. Reports — The New York Times (@nytimes) March 4, 2012 Santorum needs some wins in caucus states, or to win OH by a blowout margin, to make the race genuinely interesting post Super Tuesday. — Nate Silver (@fivethirtyeight) March 4, 2012 The Mitt Romney band-wagon keeps rolling After his wins last Tuesday in Michigan and Arizona the front-runner in the GOP race, Mitt Romney, had an emphatic victory in…