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Category: UK Elections – others

Has the coalition blunted the anti-Tory tactical message?

Has the coalition blunted the anti-Tory tactical message?

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Or could it still have some of its potency? The above, I’m sure, is typical of leaflets going out from the yellows to those identified as non-Tories in hundreds of CON-LD encounters throughout England. It’s worked in the past and has helped Clegg’s party build its local government base. So how’s it going to resonate this time? Will the fact of the coalition mean that anti-Tory supporters will be much less likely to vote Lid Dem? Notice the branding above…

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Will it be Wobbly April every year?

Will it be Wobbly April every year?

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How possible is coalition government with elections on? It all seemed so easy last May. Two parties having come together to agree a coalition document over little more than a weekend, leaders joking in the garden of Number Ten and ministers sitting happily around the cabinet table. It looks a different ball game now. Disagreements between members of the two coalition parties have been more frequent and more public in the last month than at any time so far this…

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Will raising immigration stop the seepage of votes to UKIP?

Will raising immigration stop the seepage of votes to UKIP?

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Has Dave decided on a core votes strategy? With three weeks to go before the May 5th elections David Cameron is getting big headlines this morning over a speech that he’ll make on immigration. This marks a big change from last year’s general election when the main parties sought, each for their own reasons, to side-step the issue even though it generally ranks as one of the public’s main concerns. So what’s prompted today’s move in which he will attack…

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Could the LDs really contain vote losses to just 2pc?

Could the LDs really contain vote losses to just 2pc?

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Do by-elections point to a less bad night on May 5th? One of the most surprising sets of data presented by Professors Rallings and Thrasher at the Political Studies Association seminar on the May 5th local elections is featured above. For a decade and more the two political scientists have produced a national equivalent vote share projection based on each set of local election results. In 2007, when most of the seats being contested this year were last up, the…

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Can Labour meet the Colin Rallings target?

Can Labour meet the Colin Rallings target?

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Will 1,000+ gains justify the poll ratings? It’s always the case ahead of the May local elections that parties seek to lower expectations in order that they can better them and so declare their performances a great success. That’s politics and we are seeing a bout of it at the moment. So it’s no wonder that Labour is trying to dampen down forecasts that the party is in for a brilliant night on May 5th. The most they’ll admit is…

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How’s Labour done increasing candidate numbers?

How’s Labour done increasing candidate numbers?

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On Monday PB featured the first part part of the above chart showing the change in the numbers of Labour candidates fielded at local elections going back to 1991. Harriet Harman was saying last month that she was hoping that the total they’d have standing would be a thirty year high. I’ve not yet seen an overall computation but returning to Devon we see there has been in an increase in all the councils – but the party is still…

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How many 100s of candidates have won without contests?

How many 100s of candidates have won without contests?

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Why are so many being given a free ride? We’ll have to wait until the official lists are published tomorrow but the big trend developing overnight in the May 5th local elections is that hundreds of seats are not being contested. There’s been one comment after another like these on last night’s threads:- Middle Englander:” Wychavon, Worcestershire: 45 seat council 12 Conservatives returned unopposed and 3 assured compared to just 2 assured in 2007 1 Lib Dem returned unopposed, the…

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How many candidates has Labour been able to field?

How many candidates has Labour been able to field?

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Could a big increase be good news for the blues? At midday nominations closed for the council elections that will take place in most of England on May 5th When they are published we’ll get our first indicators of how Labour is approaching the coming fight and also about the current health of the party. Harriet Harman’s goal is that the red team will have more candidates for up to 30 years. The chart above shows what’s happened in five…

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