April 2019: month of chaos

April 2019: month of chaos

A No Deal Brexit is now highly likely in March Nothing has changed: words that might well form Theresa May’s epitaph. Unfortunately for her, unless something does, that epitaph will be needed sooner rather than later. With less than five months until the Brexit deadline, both the parliamentary maths and the European diplomacy remain resolutely irresoluble. Nothing has changed. Some might argue that’s a favourable interpretation; that Jo Johnson’s resignation yesterday indicated the maths are getting worse for the PM…

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PB Video Analysis: Who Won The Midterms? Does It Matter?

PB Video Analysis: Who Won The Midterms? Does It Matter?

There’s this parody of Guardian readers children’s parties, where pass the parcel involves presents with every layer, and nobody is ever eliminated from musical chairs. This “all must have prizes” mentality seems to have reached US politics, as it appears that everyone won the midterms: the Democrats, the Republicans, Nancy Pelosi and President Trump. Who really won, and – ummm – does it matter? I’m diving into the numbers and letting you know who should be pleased. Robert Smithson Robert…

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BoJo’s brother, Jo Johnson, resigns as a minister and demands a second referendum

BoJo’s brother, Jo Johnson, resigns as a minister and demands a second referendum

With great regret, I'm resigning from the Government – I have set out my reasons in this article and the video below. https://t.co/hzimcS8uiR pic.twitter.com/hUN9RLzDfq — Jo Johnson (@JoJohnsonUK) November 9, 2018 Jo Johnson was Minister of State at the Department for Transport and Minister for London. Does this make a new vote more likely. My guess is yes. Mike Smithson Follow @MSmithsonPB Tweet

New polling finds 42% saying the referendum was “unfair and illegitimate” against 38% who say it wasn’t

New polling finds 42% saying the referendum was “unfair and illegitimate” against 38% who say it wasn’t

\ There’s a new Deltapoll out for the December issue of Prospect which asks a number of Bexit-related questions that I do not think have been highlighted before. The biggest one is in the heading that more voters think the referendum was “unfair and illegitimate” against 38% who disagree. This perception will surely add to the Government’s political challenges as we get close to the due date. Martin Boon of DeltaPoll says the polling shows “just how deep is the…

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NEW PB / Polling Matters podcast: What now for Trump and does the public now back Remain?

NEW PB / Polling Matters podcast: What now for Trump and does the public now back Remain?

On this week’s PB / Polling Matters podcast, Keiran Pedley and Leo Barasi look into the implications of this week’s mid-terms in the US and dissect data from Survation and Chris Hanretty suggesting that Brits would vote Remain if there was another referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU. Elsewhere in the show, Leo looks at what polling tells us about the prospect of a Cameron comeback and Keiran criticises Momentum’s “consultation” of its members about Labour’s Brexit policy –…

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The main loser from the MidTerms looks set to be “Big Pharma”

The main loser from the MidTerms looks set to be “Big Pharma”

One of the things we take for granted in the UK is the cost of our prescription medications. This is all part of the NHS and the majority of patients are too young/old or have chronic conditions which mean that they don’t pay. Even those who don’t benefit from free prescriptions are not asked to pay the cost price of their medication but a fixed fee. This means the NHS as almost a monopoly buyer is able to secure even…

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The PB MidTerms Prize Competition – did you get closest to the O’Rourke vote share?

The PB MidTerms Prize Competition – did you get closest to the O’Rourke vote share?

Meanwhile the money goes on O’Rourke for WH2020 Exactly a month ago we launched the PB Prize Midterms competition with the question being: What will be the vote share (to 2 decimal points) of the Texas Democratic candidate, Beto O’Rourke, in the election set for four weeks on Tuesday? It was noted then that “Because it can take some time for final vote share in US elections to be determined this competition will be settled on the vote shares the…

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The restoration of Florida felons’ voting rights could tip the balance against GOP at WH2020

The restoration of Florida felons’ voting rights could tip the balance against GOP at WH2020

We all know how Florida can have a huge impact on presidential elections and that it is always a tight race there. Overnight the incumbent Democratic Senator was ousted and replaced by a Republican winning by a very small margin. One of the other things that the state voted on yesterday was Amendment 4 which restores voting rights to 1.4 million people in Florida with past convictions.  The outcome, which required a 60%+ vote, restores the voting rights specifically to felons not…

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