Is he going to be able to stay in the job? With Cameron making his big speech setting out what appear to be major changes to the NHS reform plan the focus will now be on the health secretary, Andrew Lansley. There’s have been hints in recent weeks that there might a possible resignation if his reforms were altered too much. Only a week and a half ago the usually well-informed Matthew D’Ancona was writing in the Sunday Telegraph… ..”Number…
PoliticsHome Is that why there’s so much continuing mis-trust? There’s a big report out today produced by the newly established YouGov Cambridge and PoliticHome. You can see see Mark Gettleson’s full document here. What strikes me is the gap between the modest overall support for many of the Lansley proposals and the continuing perceptions about the Tory party and the NHS. This is how Gettleson sums it up:- The key explanation however is around the fact voters still don’t trust…
Are boundaries set to be the hot topic this autumn? Early in September the Welsh boundary commissioners will kick of with what’s looks set to be the main topic for politicians, if not the voters, this autumn, the new seat boundaries. The first draft proposals for the 2015 political map of the UK will come from Cardiff to be followed in the week of September 12th by those for England. Scottish MPs are going to have to wait a bit…
Source FT How can EdM improve the party’s income? Thanks to Jim Packard and Elizabeth Rigby in the FT for spotting this – but according to the latest party fundraising data from the Electoral Commission for the six months to March 31st the Lib Dems are out-fundraising Labour by three to one from individual and corporate donors. They note that the biggest source of money to Labour is the tax-payer (£5.7m) and the unions (£4.6m). What does this say about…
More of Marf’s work can be found at LondonSketchbook.com.
Guardian Have they the power to stop the changes going through? There’s a story in today’s Guardian that adds to information I’ve been getting in the past few days – that the Lib Dems might veto the planned boundary changes when these come up for parliamentary approval some time before the 2015 general election. The Guardian report notes that under the plan to decrease the number of MPs from 650 to 600 it is projected that the Lib Dem could…
Or could the SNP produce some of their May 5th magic? The upcoming Inverclyde by-election will be the fifth since the general election but only the first to be called because of the death or illness of the incumbent MP. All the other contests have been either prompted by the courts in one way or another – Phill Woolas/Eric Illsley – or else because the May 5th winner wanted to fight an election for a position outside Westminster – Sir…
Isn’t this rather clutching at straws? There’s an interesting piece by the normally reliable Sunny Hundal of Liberal Conspiracy under the heading “Here’s how Boris will lose the London Mayoral election”. Sunny’s main case is about the cost of the replacement for that London icon known throughout the world – the Routemaster bus. “Consider this. Last week Boris unveiled the new Routemaster buses..Know what the full cost was? They cost £7.8 million for just five of them. In contrast a…