Was Manchester’s decision a vote against the government?

Was Manchester’s decision a vote against the government?

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…

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Polls: Should we focus on of the few – not the many?

Polls: Should we focus on of the few – not the many?

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…

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Will Ladbrokes catch a cold from the Manc C-Charge?

Will Ladbrokes catch a cold from the Manc C-Charge?

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…

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Was Gord’s PMQ “blunder” what he really believes?

Was Gord’s PMQ “blunder” what he really believes?

Will he ever live the phrase down? There’s lots of material for the parliamentary sketch-writers this morning after Gordon Brown PMQ response to David Cameron is which he said “We not only saved the world..” Typical is Quentin Letts in the Mail: “..Saved the world’, eh? The hubris! It is one thing for Downing Street spin meisters to spout such nonsense but when a Prime Minister starts to believe his own propaganda we’re in trouble..In those moments immediately after the…

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Did Glenrothes rip-up the election timing “rule-book”?

Did Glenrothes rip-up the election timing “rule-book”?

Would we be more exposed to TV in a winter election With all the talk of a 2009 election there’s almost a knee-jerk reaction that it really would have to take place between March and October because elections are pretty hard “to fight in the dark”. But is that necessarily the case? On the previous thread HenryG Manson noted “..However one broadsheet columnist made an astute point a few weeks ago that Glenrothes showed that Labour can win elections ‘in…

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Will welfare reform go through only with Tory support?

Will welfare reform go through only with Tory support?

How dangerous is such a radical package? As fore-shadowed in the Queen’s Speech the government has published its welfare reform white paper which, amongst many measures, seeks to get tough on claimants who are able to work. There’s little doubt that this will resonate will large sections of the electorate – but could it be a controversy too far in the run-up to an election? Marf’s cartoon sums it up – the measure might appear to be too tough for…

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What will the “greying” of the electorate do to voting?

What will the “greying” of the electorate do to voting?

Could this provide a hidden boost to Cameron? On a morning when there’s confirmation that there are now more pensioners in Britain than children I thought it might be useful to look at the potential electoral impact. This provides a useful peg to highlight a fascinating academic paper by Scott Davidson of Loughborough University which was published in 2006 called “The Grey Battleground”. The above table is from the paper. We are probably all aware of the key dynamics but…

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