Could he be the safe pair of hands to replace EdM? After a winning bet at 33/1 that Ed Miliband would replace Gordon Brown I’ve placed a wager at the same same price this afternoon at Ladbrokes that Jim Murphy will be the next Labour leader. To me he is becoming the most impressive member of Labour’s front-bench team and his speech to Progress today is being well received on the LabourList website. His vision for the party combined with…
Are the Hutton pensions reforms the right place to fight? The reforms to the public-sector pensions that John Hutton, the former Labour Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, proposed in his report for the government earlier this week have understandably dropped out of the news. They will, however, be back. Even without the need to reduce the deficit, public-sector pensions were becoming more and more expensive, given rising life expectancy. Hutton has given the government all the political cover…
BBC news Could the leak slow down the planned expansion? Perhaps the biggest domestic victim of today’s appalling events in Japan could be the plan to expand nuclear power. In recent years there has been a shift in favour of nuclear again because of it being a source of power without the CO2 implications. The main argument against has always been safety – something that might be magnified following the radiation leak in Japan. The fact that this happened in…
Could some yellows be a bit relieved? There was a time when the Lib Dems looked to their spring conference as a platform that, hopefully would lead to some media coverage in the run-up to the May local elections. This year things look set to be different with the narrative framed by the challenges of being in coalition and their 6th place in the Barnsley by-election. But could all that be much reduced by this morning’s terrible news from Japan?…
Which is most to blame for the cuts? (YouGov) CON-LD coalition % Last Labour government % Both % Neither % Don’t know % 07 March 2011 27 40 22 6 5 21 February 2011 25 41 24 5 5 07 February 2011 25 38 26 6 5 25 January 2011 26 40 24 5 6 10 January 2011 22 40 25 8 5 11 December 2010 23 41 24 7 5 15 November 2010 22 43 23 7 5 07…
How far should ex-ministers go in helping the coalition? With the big domestic political story being the publication of the public sector pensions review there are calls by left of centre bloggers that the man who carried out the study, ex-cabinet minster John Hutton, to be expelled from the Labour party. On the Liberal Conspiracy site Owen Jones links Hutton’s cooperation to that of his fellow ex-minster Alan Milburn:- “..both Hutton and Milburn were appointed not for their expertise, but…
Welsh Assembly election poll (YouGov/ITV) Result 2007 Jan 2011 Mar 2011 Constituency vote Labour 32% 45% 48% Conservative 22% 21% 20% Plaid Cymru 22% 21% 19% Liberal Democrat 15% 7% 7% Others 8% 6% 7% Regional vote Labour 30% 41% 45% Conservative 22% 20% 20% Plaid Cymru 21% 21% 18% Liberal Democrat 12% 8% 5% UKIP 4% 4% 5% Green 4% 2% 4% Others 8% 4% 2% There’s a new YouGov poll out for…
AV betting – March 10 2011 Latest prices YES price NO price Ladbrokes evens 8/11 William Hill 5/6 5/6 Bet365 evens 8/11 PaddyPower 4/5 10/11 Victor Chandler evens 8/11 Betfair 11/10 4/5 Smarkets 11/10 0.83/1 YouGov’s 17% lead sparks off a mini-spurt Tuesday’s poll from YouGov showing a 17 point lead for NO has caused the first real shift in AV referendum betting since the markets were set up. Until then the traditional bookies had both sides at about 5/6…