Can Labour make the ideological charge stick?

Can Labour make the ideological charge stick?

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Is this what will determine the public’s reaction? What struck me about Alan Johnson’s response to the statement and the interviews with Labour figures over the past few hours was that their initial line of attack was that the cuts package is being imposed for ideological reasons. The suggestion being that many Tories want a smaller state and they are using the “cover” of the deficit to make changes in the way the that country operates for more than just…

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So how will it all look by the weekend?

So how will it all look by the weekend?

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Is the devil within the detail? Several people have commented that this statement was very much like a Gordon Brown budget. It was certainly astute as a means of dealing with the political needs of the moment but will it stand up to scrutiny. How’s it all going to look in a few days times when it’s been subject to the most intense examination. What was very Brownesque was the way Osborne finished – claiming that what they were doing…

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Is this the day that will decide the next election?

Is this the day that will decide the next election?

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Will Osborne’s big gamble succeed? Well we are here at least – what will almost certainly be the defining day of the coalition government. If Osborne & co have got this right then the this will be seen in an improving economy as we get nearer to 2015 which could produce a second victory for a Cameron-led government, with or without the Liberal Democrats. If the Osborne medicine is wrong then the political consequences for the coalition partners could be…

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So what would you do Mr. Richards?

So what would you do Mr. Richards?

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Twitter Isn’t this a bit melodramatic? Generally I’ve got a lot of time for the Indy’s Steve Richards but his Tweet a few minutes has left me almost speechless. Yes we do have vibrant cities but I don’t get this reference to the 80s. Yes Labour was out of power for the entire decade and seven years more but that was largely due to choosing unelectable leaders. Neither Foot nor Kinnock were ever going to be the match for Mrs….

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Cuts Week – Day 2

Cuts Week – Day 2

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Is it smart to bring all the bad news together? The sheer scale of what we are seeing this week is quite incredible. I can’t recall a period as intensive as this when so many announcements of such a magnitude were compressed into such a short period. The strategy, taking a five year time-span, is to get all the bad news out early so that by the time the coalition partners are going to the country then this will seem…

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Is the plan to reduce the numbers of MPs being abandoned?

Is the plan to reduce the numbers of MPs being abandoned?

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What’s the meaning of the Mulholland Tweet? Thanks to Gary Barford on the previous thread for picking up this one – for it could have a major impact on how the next general election is fought. The Lib Dem MP, Greg Mulholland, reports simply – Have had my amendments accepted for the Parliamentary Voting System etc Bill – to postpone boundary changes till after the next election. Unless I’m reading this wrong it looks as though the coalition might be…

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The Tories re-take the lead with Ipsos-MORI

The Tories re-take the lead with Ipsos-MORI

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But encouraging leader approval numbers for EdM The monthly Ipsos-MORI monitor for Reuters is just out and has encouraging news for both the Tories and Ed Miliband – as the charts above show. As seems to be the pattern now the non-YouGov polls are showing the Tories and Labour on lower levels than we see daily in the News International surveys by YouGov. The MORI methodology is different from all the other pollsters. There is no weighting to try to…

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