CONSERVATIVES 37% (nc) LABOUR 36% (nc) LIB DEMS 14% (-3) Tory lead still at just one point The IoS ComRes poll is just out and represents no change between the two main parties but a sharpish slump in the Lib Dem share. Clearly Labour will be delighted with the numbers though I would have expected Brown’s party would have done better given the Lib Dem movement. Normally a Lib Dem decline leads to a Labour boost – but not here….
Are his shadows keeping him on his toes? Here’s a statement that might not meet with universal agreement on the site: in recent weeks, I’ve been rather impressed by Ed Balls’ performance as Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families. In spite of the fact that Ipsos MORI’s issue tracker shows Education mattering less than at any time since Labour came to power, the Secretary of State has recently secured additional funding from the Treasury for underachieving schools, agreed…
Would that be a better way to beat the Soup-Dragon? Sad news this week, with the death of children’s animation maestro Oliver Postgate who passed away on Monday. Postgate was the creator of such classics as Bagpuss, Ivor the Engine and Noggin the Nog, but his enduring legacy will be the surreal and innovative world of the Clangers. I cannot take credit for being the first to wonder whether a political article could be crafted from the inspiration of Postgate’s…
How will this affect the election PR war? What strikes me as the most significant story of the day in terms of the next general election is the letter by Sir Michael Scholar, to Jeremy Heywood, Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office, on yesterday’s knife crime statistics. For one of the dead easy ways that Brown Central can get onto the next bulletins is by announcing some statistics and its always possible to play about with them to show…
Are there national implications in the C-Charge rejection? First of all hands up! I read the Manchester C-charge referendum wrongly thorough putting too much weight on the polls and believing that the £2.8bn promised investment would swing votes towards the proposal. What are the national implications? Firstly the Manchester vote following last year’s Edinburgh rejection will mean that it’s going to be much tougher pushing through such schemes. My guess is that we won’t see a further big C-charge proposal…
Will Green-gate affect anybody’s vote? Although there is still the odd story coming out the focus of the Westminster village has moved on from the Damien Green affair and it’s hard to see it bubbling up again. But what of the impact on the voters? No doubt Brown Central was cheered by the above figures from this week’s Populus poll. These showed 45% agreeing that “this is one of those typical Westminster arguments that bear no relation to the lives…
PB’s cartoonist is Marf of LondonSketchbook.com
Is it down to passengers against commuting motorists? At 10pm tonight voting closes in what’s been, after the London Mayoral Race, the biggest single UK election of 2008. A total of 1.94m electors across ten boroughs in the Manchester conurbation have been voting by post to decide whether drivers should pay peak hour congestion charges. If this was down to the punters there’d be an overwhelming NO vote. Ladbrokes has reported that 92% of all bets placed have been against…