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Category: Labour

New guest slot team member DavidL on the other leadership election – the fight to lead Scottish Labour

New guest slot team member DavidL on the other leadership election – the fight to lead Scottish Labour

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I’d like to talk about the Labour leadership election. No, no, not that election but the Scottish one that no one is paying any attention to. On 16th May Jim Murphy announced, having won his vote of no confidence, that he was standing down, not there and then like his esteemed leader but a month later. That month is up next week. As always in the Alice in Wonderland of Scottish politics, Scottish Labour can’t go back to yesterday because…

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Solving Labour’s deficit dilemma?

Solving Labour’s deficit dilemma?

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The new leader must win back trust on the economy If there was one moment where Labour’s fate was sealed during April’s election campaign, it was not the unveiling of the Edstone; it was Ed Miliband’s answer to whether he thought Labour had been spending too much prior to the Crash in 2008. He started by simply saying “no, I don’t”. It may well have been that Labour was already heading for defeat at that point – given how badly…

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This morning’s MUST READ: the Guardian account of how it all went wrong for LAB/EdM

This morning’s MUST READ: the Guardian account of how it all went wrong for LAB/EdM

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There’s an extraordinarily comprehensive account by Patrick Wintour in the Guardian this morning of how right up to the moment the exit poll was published at 10pm on May 7th that Ed and his team really believed he was about to become PM. The report opens: “This is the story of how the election defeat came about, based on extensive interviews with many of Miliband’s closest advisers. It is a story of decisions deferred, of a senior team divided, and…

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PB/Polling Matters Podcast: What does Labour do next?

PB/Polling Matters Podcast: What does Labour do next?

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Polling Matters is an independent, non partisan podcast providing, in conjunction with PB, expert polling news and political analysis in the aftermath of the 2015 General Election. This week, host Keiran Pedley discusses why Labour lost and what’s next for the party featuring interviews with Lord Foulkes and Professor John Curtice and analysis from regular Polling Matters contributors Rob Vance and Leo Barasi. Keiran tweets about polling and politics at @keiranpedley

The GE2020 challenge for LAB: Unless its Scottish losses can be reversed it needs a 12% lead for a majority

The GE2020 challenge for LAB: Unless its Scottish losses can be reversed it needs a 12% lead for a majority

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The challenge facing LAB by John Curtice. 12% lead required for majority pic.twitter.com/haSbQSY02w — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) May 15, 2015 Within a few weeks of each general election Professor John Curtice and other leading psephologists start producing the numbers that will shape the next general election. The first one is in the Mail piece – what LAB would need to do to secure a majority next time. Before last week’s election Curtice had said that the Tories would require a…

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LAB’s just reignited pensions as a battleground

LAB’s just reignited pensions as a battleground

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David Herdson says the tuition fees funding proposals could be skating on thin ice Elections are won on perceptions as much as realities: competence, trustworthiness, whether a person or party is ‘on my side’, and so on. It’s therefore brave of Labour to propose funding a cut in university tuition fees from taxes raised on pensions. In doing so, the unintended consequence of opening up a policy front on what ought to be a relatively strong policy subject for them…

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Who Will Deliver The First Budget After The May 2015 General Election?

Who Will Deliver The First Budget After The May 2015 General Election?

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Front page of tomorrow's @thesundaytimes, Is Ed Balls deep in trouble? pic.twitter.com/pKHv30FZir — TSE (@TSEofPB) February 21, 2015 The Sunday Times are reporting (££) that Ed Miliband has been urged to demote Ed Balls after the general election, amid simmering tensions in the Labour leadership over how to pay for a cut in university tuition fees. A shadow cabinet member said if Miliband becomes prime minister he should move the shadow chancellor and accused Balls of behaving with “contempt” towards…

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Henry G Manson says that in past fortnight we’ve seen a different EdM with an effective gameplan

Henry G Manson says that in past fortnight we’ve seen a different EdM with an effective gameplan

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@Ed_Miliband kicks off by going with the tax avoidance issue pic.twitter.com/b7p8pp0pNC — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) February 11, 2015 Why he’s becoming like tennis player Lleyton Hewitt at his prime It’s easy to look at British politics as though it were boxing. Journalists will often speak of whether there were any ‘knock out blows’ in Prime Minister’s. Instead I look at the it through the prism of sport I love, which PB old hands know is tennis. Of course there are…

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