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Ed Balls makes the 50 percent tax-rate the GE2015 dividing line

Ed Balls makes the 50 percent tax-rate the GE2015 dividing line

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Over to you Mr. Osborne The big announcement in this morning speech from Ed Balls was that a Labour government would reintroduce the 50% tax rate which was reduced to 45% in George Osborne’s March 2012 budget. This is probably the most significant policy move yet from Labour in the build up to GE2015 – now little more then 15 months away. At the time of the change to 45% Osborne’s move didn’t poll very well and there’s little indication…

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Not a bad set of weekend polls for Labour but doubts fuelled by the leader ratings remain

Not a bad set of weekend polls for Labour but doubts fuelled by the leader ratings remain

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But YouGov’s 8% for the LDs signals problems over Rennard Very irritatingly Opinium don’t publish their full dataset until after the weekend so we have yet to see the firm’s fortnightly leader approval ratings and a Euro election poll that they carried out. Almost all the other firms, bar ICM, now have near instantaneous publication of the detailed data as soon as headline numbers are released. Opinium should get their act together. They are the only firm to carry out…

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Labour cannot go into GE2015 with Balls still shadow chancellor

Labour cannot go into GE2015 with Balls still shadow chancellor

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Chris Leslie – Shadow Treasury Secretary pic.twitter.com/r5BkbT7KXm — PolPics (@PolPics) December 5, 2013 Could shadow treasury sec Chris Leslie be the answer? For me the striking feature of today’s autumn statement was how poorly Ed Balls performed. Yes he had to face a massive barrage of noise from the other side but his really poor communication skills were shown up. He’s just far too agressive and talks to fast. I know he’s got a stammer but he’s appalling diction –…

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The Co-Op in crisis – what now?

The Co-Op in crisis – what now?

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pic.twitter.com/1QxbzvUsgS — PolPics (@PolPics) November 22, 2013 Will the LAB links be another casualty of the Flowers scandal? The scandal surrounding Paul Flowers has had plenty to keep the media entertained: drugs, sex, money, power and the fall from grace not just of a preacher-politician but also, and in parallel, that of the bank he once headed.  However, while the human interest may lie in the man, the longer term political consequences of the events lie with the questions that…

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The answer to Ben Brogan’s point about why in current context the Tories are doing badly is here from the August Ipsos-MORI poll

The answer to Ben Brogan’s point about why in current context the Tories are doing badly is here from the August Ipsos-MORI poll

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Telegraph's Ben Brogan says q not why LAB doing well, but why CON badly? http://t.co/stEH68O5IM See this Aug 1/2 pic.twitter.com/NPiPYxk9LD — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) November 19, 2013 And this on EdM & LAB from same Ipsos-MORI poll in August CON liked a lot less than LAB pic.twitter.com/32CRpINKW8 — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) November 19, 2013 The ANTI-CON tribe is bigger than the PRO-CON one As can be seen the Tories have a net minus 19% on the like/dislike question. Labour by contrast…

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For the 3rd consecutive YouGov poll LAB’s in the 40s, a sequence that was last bettered in April

For the 3rd consecutive YouGov poll LAB’s in the 40s, a sequence that was last bettered in April

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Update: Labour lead at 6 – Latest YouGov/The Sun results 5th November – Con 34%, Lab 40%, LD 8%, UKIP 11%; APP -26 http://t.co/yQ959vX9kf — YouGov (@YouGov) November 6, 2013 The last time that LAB had a run of more than three YouGov daily poll shares in the 40s was back in April before the local elections. So today’s third consecutive poll with the party in the 40s suggests that with this firm at least its position is stable. There…

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Who knows? The public could get a taste for public ownership

Who knows? The public could get a taste for public ownership

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The Henry G Manson Friday column For the last 30 years we’ve heard Prime Ministers Thatcher, Major, Blair and Cameron argue for policies of privatisation, private finance initiatives, public-private partnerships and so on. Whether it’s our utilities or our postal service the belief in the inherent private sector has been steadfast. The private sector failure running the East Coast Main Line led to the state running a portion of Britain’s rail again – and successfully. Our ministers are happy for…

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Why politicians of all colours will have less to fear from the press at GE2015

Why politicians of all colours will have less to fear from the press at GE2015

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Remember how the Sun’s decision to drop LAB was the big news when party was last in Brighton Sales drops & paywalls make press less important When this Sun published in Sept 2009 sales 3,079,998 Now 2,258,359l pic.twitter.com/ak3sLVIVyZ — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) September 24, 2013 Since then the circulation of almost all papers has dropped sharply The online presence is being reduced by paywalls