URL change: To access the latest posts please click www.politicalbetting.com For three and a half years I have highlighted the YouGov “most to blame for the cuts” tracker as, perhaps, a good non-voting intention tracker. On the face of it you’d think that if the red team was continuing to get the blame with less than a year and a half to go then it would start to appear in the voting numbers. Yet that doesn’t seem to be happening….
A feeling of economic well-being is surely central to GE2015 There’s a new survey out from Populus with a sample of 4,071 British adults, in which 44% said that the most important issue in determining their vote at GE2015 will be either the economy or the cost of living. Of those participating 38% leant towards agreeing that there is a national economic recovery underway, just 11% of the sample agreed they feel part of that recovery. Further, 38% thought there…
LAB extends lead with Opinium Other points from ComRes I trust Ed Miliband and Ed Balls to make the right decisions about the economy Agree 23% (+8 since March 2012) Disagree 50% (-9) I trust David Cameron and George Osborne to make the right decisions about the economy Agree 28% (-1) Disagree 49% (0) I would expect my family to be better off than it is now if the Conservatives win the next election Agree 22% Disagree 47% I would…
Unlike the red and blue teams the LD conference has a formal policy making function with the result, as we’ve seen in the past, that it can embarrass the leadership. This year’s event, here in Glasgow, has so far gone okay for Clegg with votes on energy policy and tuition fees taking a pragmatic line. This morning things might just be different as delegates discuss and vote on the central issue of economic strategy. With Cable and Clegg said to…
Sport here: according to #FT some around @Ed_Miliband think @edballsmp "may have to be sacrificed unless things turn around" — Benedict Brogan (@benedictbrogan) September 10, 2013 LAB slips further on the economy When Ed Balls was made shadow chancellor in January 2011 the Tories had a lead of just 2% in YouGov’s tracker on best party on the economy. Today’s YouGov has that at 7% which equals the largest Tory lead this year. Even more worrying for Labour is that…
It’s now two and a half years since Ed Balls became shadow chancellor and, as the chart above shows, there’s been very little change in public perceptions over who is to blame for the cuts. The charge that it’s “Labour’s fault” continues to resonate. We see it time and time again whenever coalition ministers respond to criticism of their policies for the deficit. Everything is justified because of what they inherited from the last LAB government – an assertion that…
Henry G Manson on the week’s big economic news This week the new Governor of the Bank of England shifted interest rate setting policy by indicating rates shouldn’t increase until unemployment falls to 7%. Acknowledging unemployment as a key indicator of economic health makes sense, but when Carney examines the breakdown  of unemployment figures in the UK he will see a mixed picture as in the chart. What’s clear is that when the 7% rate is eventually reached it will not…
George Osborne in high-vis jacket pic.twitter.com/mDuo5lq5gH — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) June 28, 2013 Henry G Manson on the week’s big political news This week Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander trumpeted a raft of infrastructure investments totalling £100bn. There are some reasons to question with the overall figure. As the Independent says ‘some of the projects, in the best tradition of political spin, had already been announced. Others, it turned out, may never be built at all. But a…