Are elected mayors becoming more important than MPs?

Are elected mayors becoming more important than MPs?

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BBC news Will these be the big English battles on May 5th One development that hasn’t been given much attention is the decision by Sir Peter Soulsby to resign his seat of Leicester South following his selection as Labour candidate in May’s first election for the Mayor of Leicester. What focus there has been on this has been on the parliamentary by-election – but isn’t his decision to abandon Westminster more interesting? For these elected mayor positions, which only exist…

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Why wasn’t Cameron slaughtered this week?

Why wasn’t Cameron slaughtered this week?

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Doesn’t EdM need to plan better? On the face of it this should have been an easy PMQs for Ed Miliband. The government’s performance over the past week or so has been far from opitimal and there was plenty of material to play with over the Libya issues and the role of William Hague. Yet somehow EdM’s attacks failed to stick and it was Cameron who came on top. Anticipating the vulnerability of Hague the PM had a well prepared…

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Will Hague’s position be Ed Miliband’s target at PMQs?

Will Hague’s position be Ed Miliband’s target at PMQs?

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Has the foreign secretary lost his appetite for the job? If body language and his general demeanour in public are anything to go by then William Hague looks like a man who has had enough and would like nothing more than to disappear from a high profile political role. When pressed on his commitment at a press conference yesterday his response seemed to raise more questions than it answered. He looks nothing like the super confident William Hague of old…

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YouGov finds only 8 percent saying they WON’T vote on AV

YouGov finds only 8 percent saying they WON’T vote on AV

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Why don’t the pollsters focus on those most likely to vote? There’s yet another YouGov AV poll out with its 141 word-long question that has been totally over-taken by events and starts “The Conservative-Liberal Democrat government are committed to holding a referendum…”. It finishes “If a referendum were held tomorrow on whether to stick with first-past-the-post or switch to the Alternative Vote for electing MPs, how would you vote?” Hasn’t the online firm woken up to the fact that the…

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Does the calendar give YES a slight edge?

Does the calendar give YES a slight edge?

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The build-up to polling day Status Thursday 21 April 2011 Normal working day Friday 22 April 2011 Good Friday: Long holiday weekend Saturday 23 April 2011 Long holiday weekend Sunday 24 April 2011 East Sunday: Long holiday weekend Monday 25 April 2011 East Monday: Long holiday weekend Tuesday 26 April 2011 Normal working day: Wedding week Wednesday 27 April 2011 Normal working day: Wedding week Thursday 28 April 2011 Normal working day: Wedding week Friday 29 April 2011 Royal Wedding:…

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NO2AV/YouGov poll has YES 4 percent ahead

NO2AV/YouGov poll has YES 4 percent ahead

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Latest AV referendum polls Date YES % NO % Methodology note Angus Reid/ 03/03/11 55 45 Repercentaged by PB. Actual wording on the ballot, online, polling restricted to members of its polling panel. No turnout weighting. Politically weighted via past vote and newspaper type. YouGov/No2AV 02/03/11 52 48 Repercentaged by PB. Now the same wording as on the ballot. Polling restricted to members of its polling panel. No turnout weighting. Politically weighted via party ID and newspaper type. Ipsos-MORI Reuters…

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Was the LD collapse all predicted in pre-election polls?

Was the LD collapse all predicted in pre-election polls?

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How would you feel if the election outcome was a coalition between the Tories and the Lib Dems (YouGov: May 1 2010) All voters % CON voters % LD voters % I would be delighted 6 6 11 I would be dismayed 51 34 43 I wouldn’t mind 31 52 47 37 Don’t know 13 8 9 Is the amazing thing that the yellows are not doing worse? Thanks to Peter Kellner for picking up this – a finding from…

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Can Nick surprise us again?

Can Nick surprise us again?

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Jonathan’s Sunday Slot…a bit late! It has been a truly dire week for the Liberal Democrats. It became clear that the AV referendum could fail, now that No2AV is making progress in the polls. The party fell from second to sixth in the Barnsley by-election; an incredibly poor result, perhaps without precedent. More worryingly, the election also saw UKIP emerge as a plausible third party choice and apply pressure on the coalition from the right. These are dangerous times for…

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