politicalbetting.com

Is decriminalisation of drugs really irresponsible? Hasn’t the the most predictable and sad feature of this morning’s reaction to Bob Ainsworth’s ideas on drugs been the knee-jerk reaction of all the main parties? Ainsworth, who used to be in charge of drugs policy as a Home Office minister, is calling for the production and supply of drugs including cocaine to be officially regulated. He argues that the war on drugs has been “nothing but a disaster” and switching the trade…

Read More Read More

Who gains when the music stops? One government proposal which has direct implications for the next GE is the reduction in the number of parliamentary constituencies, from 650 to 600.  Discussion of this proposal has mainly centred on the equalisation of constituency sizes, which Labour has curiously characterised as ‘gerrymandering’ because it will slightly reduce the pro-Labour distortion under the old boundaries. However, the impact at the next election will come not only from the equalisation of the sizes of…

Read More Read More

  MPs regional breakdown Aye votes No votes Abstentions Total England 311 209 8 528 Northern Ireland 0 12 6 18 Scotland 6 51 2 59 Wales 8 32 0 40 ALL MPs 325 304 16 645 A guest slot on the big vote and the West Lothian Question Linlithgow and East Falkirk includes much of the late, lamented constituency of West Lothian. Last week its Labour MP, Michael Connarty, was one of 51 Scottish representatives to vote against Higher…

Read More Read More

I’ve put up this continuation thread following Mike’s comment on the last thread that he was having trouble posting.  please continue the discussion here … David Herdson

Has he become the party’s attack dog? I must admit to have not been a fan of Tim Farron – the newly elected President of the Lib Dems and one of the leading opponents in his party in the university fees vote. But his fierce response to Ed Miliband’s overtures to the yellow this morning suggests that we are going to see a very different tone. And because he’s seen as from the left of the party he’s in a…

Read More Read More

Could LD “considerers” from May make up some of the losses? I am very tied up with personal matters at the moment and have not had the time to examine either of the two Michael Ashcroft polls on the Lib Dems. One survey, by Populus, highlighted what we have seen from other polling – a big loss in support from those who said they voted for Clegg’s party on May 6th. A parallel survey was amongst what were terms “Lib…

Read More Read More

The 50% tax rate The 50% tax rate for those earning £150k +? (YouGov) All sampled CON voters LAB voters LD voters The 50% top rate of tax should be made permanent 37 23 53 42 The 50% top rate of tax should eventually be brought back down to 40 46 60 37 45 Neither 6 9 2 4 Penal policy Penal policy – which best reflects your view? (YouGov) All sampled CON voters LAB voters LD voters Prison works,…

Read More Read More