Is Ashdown right? Today’s moves could be a “coalition breaker”?

Is Ashdown right? Today’s moves could be a “coalition breaker”?

Comments 0 Comment

How much notice should we take of the ex-leader? Reproduced above is the Tweet from Sky’s John Craig about his conversation with Paddy Ashdown. My main comment is that Ashdown’s backing for Nick Clegg was absolutely central to the coalition deal last May and his ongoing support has played a big part in keeping the Lib Dems on side. Paddy is a hugely influential figure within the party and if he stops supporting the coalition then it is only a…

Read More Read More

New ComRes poll has YES and NO level

New ComRes poll has YES and NO level

Comments 0 Comment

But were respondents conditioned by earlier questions? There’s a new ComRes phone poll out on AV for Newsnight that suggests that voters are split on replacing the First Past the Post system with the Alternative Vote.. When asked do you want the UK to adopt the Alternative Vote system instead of the current First Past The Post system for electing MPs 41 percent agree while the same amount disagree. This compares with a ComRes online poll at the weekend that…

Read More Read More

MORI has the SNP just ahead in Scotland

MORI has the SNP just ahead in Scotland

Comments 0 Comment

There’s a new poll from Ipsos-MORI on the May 5th Scottish parliament elections which has the SNP just ahead of Labour – the first time this has happened. Compared with the last survey from the pollster the SNP is up 6 while Labour is down five. For the regional list voting intention MORI has: SNP 35%(+3) LAB 33%(-3): CON 13%(+1): LD 10%(+1):GRN 6% Until this point everything seemed to be pointing to Labour coming out on top even if they…

Read More Read More

Could today hasten the end for the House of Lords?

Could today hasten the end for the House of Lords?

Comments 0 Comment

Are peers ready to continue the battle with the commons? Later this morning, at about 11am, the controversial voting and constituencies bill returns to the upper house after MPs last night overturned the changes that peers had sought to impose. Do their lordships now acquiesce and approve the bill as agreed in the commons or do they seek to continue the battle. If so they could stop the AV referendum taking place as planned on May 5th? For the legal…

Read More Read More

The battle goes on

The battle goes on

Comments 0 Comment

Will there be a referendum on May 5th? With time running out for referendum and constituency bill to complete the parliamentary process so that the referendum takes place, as planned, on May 5th it looks as though we are in for a long night. The bill is back in the commons looking at the amendments passed by the upper house. Once this stage is completed it will then need to go back to the Lords again. The Electoral Commission have…

Read More Read More

Could Davis or Fox have been Tory leader under FPTP?

Could Davis or Fox have been Tory leader under FPTP?

Comments 0 Comment

Why don’t the blues use the system they espouse? I’ve was taken with this First Past the Post (FPTP) comment by Mark Thompson on the LeftFootForward blog:- “…the Tories also do not trust FPTP to elect their own leaders. Instead they whittle them down round by round with the MPs as the electoral college (which is a bit like AV) until they reach the top two in this respect and then put the two candidates to a vote of the…

Read More Read More

Who cares what Helena Bonham-Carter thinks about AV?

Who cares what Helena Bonham-Carter thinks about AV?

Comments 0 Comment

Will celebrity endorsement really influence people? With the AV referendum and constituencies bill about to go through its final intensive period at Westminster the YES campaign has unveiled what looks set to be its key strategy in the coming campaign – celebrity endorsement. While the NO side has a line up of political heavyweights such as John Prescott, David Blunkett and Margaret Beckett the YES plan, it appears, is to keep politicians. past and present, completely out of sight. Instead…

Read More Read More

Who is winning the blame game on local council cuts?

Who is winning the blame game on local council cuts?

Comments 0 Comment

Who is mostly to blame for cuts to local council services? (YouGov) All sampled CON voters % LAB voters % LD voters % Local councils for not cutting their wasteful spending 27 57 9 37 Central government for reducing local council’s funding 29 9 49 21 Both equally 37 30 38 35 Should the coalition be relieved by these numbers? Hardly a day goes by at the moment without the local council cuts stories. For much of the burden of…

Read More Read More