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Category: Coalition

Is Labour getting it wrong on the Lib Dems?

Is Labour getting it wrong on the Lib Dems?

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Guardian Should the red team look at its own recent history? One of the most provocative political columns this morning is John Harris’s look at Labour’s view of the Lib Dems by in the Guardian. He concludes:”… Miserable poll ratings may serve to bind the Lib Dems in, for fear of another election and a real calamity. And one other thing: never forget their deep, burning and often understandable hatred of the Blair and Brown governments – which, given the…

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How will the coalition deal with Harriet’s landmine?

How will the coalition deal with Harriet’s landmine?

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Is her equalities measure going to make it harder to govern? If you’ve got five minutes then listen to Treasury minister Mark Hoban on the Today programme this morning as he was pressed on whether the Treasury had conducted a formal study assessing the impact of the cuts on ethnic minorities ahead of June’s budget. For one of the final bits of legislation enacted by the outgoing Labour government was a requirement in Harriet Harman’s Equalities Act to “to consider…

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Is the Justice Secretary Nick Clegg’s secret weapon?

Is the Justice Secretary Nick Clegg’s secret weapon?

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Guardian Has Clarke become the Lib Dems’ most popular Tory? On the afternoon of Monday September 20th Nick Clegg will have to make the speech of his life to his party gathering in Liverpool in what looks set to be THE event of the conference season. For the reaction of his audience could determine how long the coalition can survive and with it his own future. The stakes are high and Clegg has to be able to demonstrate that his…

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Is Jackie Ashley right to chastise her party?

Is Jackie Ashley right to chastise her party?

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Guardian Could Labour be wrong by “playing nasty”? One of most provocative “Monday columns” in the the papers this morning is from Jacky Ashley in the Guardian in which she takes Labour to task for not reading reading the public mood right. She argues: “Labour is playing bad politics. The leadership campaign is turning into a tin-ear, foot-in-mouth competition about who can be nastiest to the Liberal Democrats. As candidates desperately try to prove themselves more true Labour, more tribal…

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Are the blues getting most hurt in Scotland?

Are the blues getting most hurt in Scotland?

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Ipsos-MORI But does MORI give a bit of a relief to the yellows? In the build up to what one commentator is now calling “Super Thursday” – the elections on May 5th 2011 – we are going to see a fair bit of polling. For on that that day there’ll be elections to the Welsh Assembly, the Scottish Parliament, local councils in many parts of England as well as the planned referendum on the alternative vote. Ipsos-MORI has just published…

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Would this outcome have scuppered a CON-LD deal?

Would this outcome have scuppered a CON-LD deal?

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British Election Study Would it have taken away the “TINA defence”? Those old to remember the Thatcher years will recall what came to be known as TINA – “There is no alterative” – her refrain when her policies were challenged. Well I wonder whether TINA has returned as the fact of the coalition continues to dominate the political debate. The above projection on what AV would have done to the 2010 election outcome is part a mass of information now…

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Do we agree with Nick on this?

Do we agree with Nick on this?

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BBC News Would it have been worse without the coalition deal? In a Radio 4 interview to be broadcast on Sunday night the LD leader and deputy PM, Nick Clegg, asserts that his party would be in a worse position in the polls if they had not entered into the coalition agreement with the Tories. If they had stood aside then nobody would be taking any notice of the party now. The BBC report goes on: “Being in government meant…

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Would EdM prefer being in opposition rather than government?

Would EdM prefer being in opposition rather than government?

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BBC News Could today’s comment come back to haunt him? We all know that the middle of a leadership battle it’s vital to make comments and statements that chime with the party but could Ed Miliband come to regret saying that he wouldn’t go into coalition with Nick Clegg. Who knows what’s going to happen at the next election but even with the planned constituency changes there’s a highish probability of there being another hung parliament. And in that situation…

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