Have they little to do with the party or its leader? Writing in his Observer column Andrew Rawnsley made this astute comment about Labour’s current poll ratings:- “…… Labour’s rating has very little to do with anything that Labour or its leader are or aren’t doing. The polls are much more a function of voters reacting to the coalition and the cuts. No one is paying much serious attention to Labour, a state of affairs to which most of the…
Part 1: Discovering Blair’s Best Bits These are exciting times for Labour. The party has four and half years to rebuild its support. It may seem like a long time, but it isn’t. There is not enough time to start from scratch. The party has look to its past, discover the best bits and use them as the foundation for something new. The Blair years are a sensible place to start. Whether you were a Blairite, a Brownite, “New labour 
Poll/publication Date CON % LAB % LD % ComRes/Indy on Sunday (Online) 19/11/10 37 38 13 ComRes/Independent (Phone) 31/10/10 35 37 16 ComRes/Indy on Sunday (Online) 15/10/10 40 34 14 ComRes/Independent (Online) 01/10/10 39 36 15 ComRes/Indy on Sunday (Online) 16/09/10 37 35 15 ComRes/Independent (Phone) 05/09/10 38 34 18 ComRes/Mirror/GMTV (Phone) 15/08/10 39 33 15 ComRes/Independent (Phone) 08/08/10 39 33 16 ComRes/Independent 27/06/10 40 31 18 And the Lib Dems drop to 13 There’s a new poll out tonight…
BBC The big political news this morning is that there’s been a massive expansion of the house of lords today with a wapping 53 new peers created. This is all part of the measures to boost the coalition in the upper house where Labour has had the most votes. I despair that such a measure is felt necessary. Why should a critical part of the legislative process be chosen by patronage? Quite a few of the latest names failed in…
Poll/publication Date CON % LAB % LD % YouGov/Sun 17/11/10 40 40 11 Ipsos-MORI/Reuters 14/11/10 36 39 14 ComRes/Independent 30/10/10 35 37 16 Angus Reid/ 28/10/10 35 37 15 Populus/Times 24/10/10 37 38 15 ICM/Guardian 24/10/10 39 36 16 As regulars will know I have always been strongly against polling averages. However I am coming to a view that we do need something which provides an indicator of the broad trend by taking the last survey from each of the…
HenryG looks at where the political battle-grounds will be Over the years I’ve noticed that one of the biggest misconceptions the public have is that their council services are funded almost entirely by the council tax they pay. In good times this isn’t so much of a problem, but it will be the cause of a major headache for the coalition too. The realisation that government spending cuts at Westmininster will hit their council’s services is starting to emerge as…
Hope you can make the next PB gathering Thanks to Fat Steve for once again organising this. We are having an informal get-together tonight at the historic Dirty Dicks pub opposite the main entrance to Liverpool Street station. Kick off is at 6.30pm and I am on the train bound for London. Details of the venue and how to find it can be found here. Mike Smithson
Poll/publication Date CON % LAB % LD % YouGov/Sun 16/11/10 37 42 10 YouGov/Sun 15/11/10 40 42 10 YouGov/Sunday Times 12/11/10 39 41 10 YouGov/Sun 11/11/10 40 40 10 YouGov/Sun 10/11/10 42 37 11 YouGov/Sun 09/11/10 40 39 13 YouGov/Sun 08/11/10 42 39 11 YouGov/Sunday Times 05/11/10 40 39 12 YouGov/Sun 04/11/10 40 39 11 YouGov/Sun 03/11/10 40 40 9 YouGov/Sun 02/11/10 41 40 11 YouGov/Sun 01/11/10 41 39 11 YouGov/Sunday Times 29/10/10 42 37 13 YouGov/Sun 28/10/10 41 39…