politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » The CON plan for a majority is said to be based on the LAB share being restricted to 31 pc. Who are they kidding?
The problem with this, of course, is twofold: the switch to UKIP discussed on the last thread and, of course, the massive switch of 2010 LDs to LAB which happened in the first year of the coalition.
Weird strategy, of it's real. I don't see why the low 40s should be out of reach for Con. It would need a fair few Lab->Con switchers, but keeping Labour at 31% already requires that to offset the LibDem->Lab movements.
Meanwhile the Tory election strategy has been leaked
"Osborne reveals the true aim of Help to Buy: to inflate house prices "Hopefully we will get a little housing boom and everyone will be happy as property values go up," the Chancellor reportedly told the cabinet."
Shocking revelation, who on earth can believe that is the point of Help To Buy?
As Richard N pointed out on the last thread.
'Brilliant, tim! You link to a New Statesman article, taking seriously a comment which in turn come from another article which clearly says it was a joke.'
It's just like the time you fell for the spoof Husky blog.
"So today, the [energy] companies which have been cast as undisputed forces of darkness – who are, oddly, the dispensers of light and heat – have begun to fight back. One of the chief reasons for their price increases, they say, is that successive governments have forced them to become tax collectors: green taxes and the cost of subsidising new eco-friendly forms of energy production have all been loaded on to energy bills instead of being paid directly to HM Treasury. So instead of the sitting government getting the ignominy for higher taxes, the energy companies must take the blame – and then be chastised by politicians of all parties for their pains. The airlines, caught in a similar dilemma, have taken to printing very clearly on their websites precisely what proportion of your airfare is accounted for by fuel duty: the percentage is gratifyingly shocking and educative to the consumer. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/janetdaley/100240872/government-turned-energy-companies-into-tax-collectors-now-they-are-fighting-back/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
o/t Has Vince Cable has blundered over Royal Mail? Maybe the guy is simply not as clever as he thinks he is (strange that people used to say that about the late John Smith MP for whom Mr Cable was special adviser when he was trade secretary). It is suggested a £6 to £7bn company is being sold for half of what it's worth. Red light spells danger for the gov't... some are suggesting Vince may be facing the short walk soon
OGH - once again you are suggesting the bedrock floor of Lab is the 30% Brown got.
I would be interested to know what Labour's % would have been excluding Scotland where Labour outperformed in 2010 as my vague memory serves me so there could be slippage in Scotland? Brown may be viewed more fondly than Miliband there perhaps?
There's also the incumbency 'cling to nurse fear' that some will have had after 13 yrs and the encomic concerns, some still believe Brown was ok at running the UK economy (unbelievably).
Public sector workers thought they'd lose their jobs and in some cases were right to. There'll be a lot more in private sector than public sector (as in 2010) by the next election and that might again mean the Labour 'floor' has altered?
Not my area but random 'straws' that I clutch to and which seems to pick at this strange assumption that 30% is locked in to start with - are any valid?
"the massive switch of 2010 LDs return of tactical LAB voters from the Lib Dems to LAB......"
Which logic means that even the 2010 Labour vote (including tactical supporters) was well in excess of 31%... and you've still got to have serious concerns about an approach that thinks it's plausible to expect Labour to be *less* popular than under Brown.
CON's best hope is to catalyse a Lib Dem plot to get Nick Clegg overthrown as leader and get Tim Farron in charge. Also slip something into Farage's pint and try and get Monkton in charge of UKIP.
Farron leading the Lib Dems and Monkton leading UKIP should be good enough for a CON majority.
OGH - once again you are suggesting the bedrock floor of Lab is the 30% Brown got.
I would be interested to know what Labour's % would have been excluding Scotland where Labour outperformed in 2010 as my vague memory serves me so there could be slippage in Scotland?
There's also the incumbency 'cling to nurse fear' that some will have had after 13 yrs and the encomic concerns, some still believe Brown was ok at running the UK economy (unbelievably).
Public sector workers thought they'd lose their jobs and in some cases were right to. There'll be a lot more in private sector than public sector (as in 2010) by the next election and that might again mean the Labour 'floor' has altered?
Not my area but random 'straws' that I clutch to and which seems to pick at this strange assumption that 30% is locked in to start with - are any valid?
Meanwhile the Tory election strategy has been leaked
"Osborne reveals the true aim of Help to Buy: to inflate house prices "Hopefully we will get a little housing boom and everyone will be happy as property values go up," the Chancellor reportedly told the cabinet."
Shocking revelation, who on earth can believe that is the point of Help To Buy?
As Richard N pointed out on the last thread.
'Brilliant, tim! You link to a New Statesman article, taking seriously a comment which in turn come from another article which clearly says it was a joke.'
It's just like the time you fell for the spoof Husky blog.
Now where's that defence of 70% marginal rates you were going to give us, you seem to have forgotten.
How can I forget something that I never offered to do?
Something like 38% Con 33% Lab would be a more realistic target than 38/31. Depending on the LibDem/UKIP vote share and distribution, and allowing for first-time incumbency effects and the possibility that LD->Lab switchers might behave differently in different types of seat (ie tactical unwind, making the Labour vote less efficiently distibuted), that might (just) give a Con majority.
Public sector workers thought they'd lose their jobs and in some cases were right to. There'll be a lot more in private sector than public sector (as in 2010) by the next election and that might again mean the Labour 'floor' has altered?
Not my area but random 'straws' that I clutch to and which seems to pick at this strange assumption that 30% is locked in to start with - are any valid?
I've read this a couple of times, and I'm still not sure... are you suggesting that Labour voters who work in the public sector are somehow "cured" of their political beliefs by being employed by a private company instead? I mean, I don't have any evidence to the contrary but it just seems a strange straw to cling to. Can you elaborate?
Meanwhile the Tory election strategy has been leaked
"Osborne reveals the true aim of Help to Buy: to inflate house prices "Hopefully we will get a little housing boom and everyone will be happy as property values go up," the Chancellor reportedly told the cabinet."
Shocking revelation, who on earth can believe that is the point of Help To Buy?
As Richard N pointed out on the last thread.
'Brilliant, tim! You link to a New Statesman article, taking seriously a comment which in turn come from another article which clearly says it was a joke.'
It's just like the time you fell for the spoof Husky blog.
Now where's that defence of 70% marginal rates you were going to give us, you seem to have forgotten.
How can I forget something that I never offered to do?
Woof Woof!
Can I in turn also look forward to the piece on the marginal 62% rate that Labour brought in regardless of number of children someone had and which continues to exist today.
Labour History Group @LabourHistory @rob_marchant@anthonypainter Three people who have sat as Labour MPs have won the Nobel Peace Prize, one a party leader (Arthur Henderson)
Public sector workers thought they'd lose their jobs and in some cases were right to. There'll be a lot more in private sector than public sector (as in 2010) by the next election and that might again mean the Labour 'floor' has altered?
Not my area but random 'straws' that I clutch to and which seems to pick at this strange assumption that 30% is locked in to start with - are any valid?
I've read this a couple of times, and I'm still not sure... are you suggesting that Labour voters who work in the public sector are somehow "cured" of their political beliefs by being employed by a private company instead? I mean, I don't have any evidence to the contrary but it just seems a strange straw to cling to. Can you elaborate?
No - not quite a disease as far as I'm aware. I'm asking if you poll private sector workers, do their numbers tend to be less favourable to Labour than people who are public sector workers that's all.
Meanwhile the Tory election strategy has been leaked
"Osborne reveals the true aim of Help to Buy: to inflate house prices "Hopefully we will get a little housing boom and everyone will be happy as property values go up," the Chancellor reportedly told the cabinet."
Shocking revelation, who on earth can believe that is the point of Help To Buy?
As Richard N pointed out on the last thread.
'Brilliant, tim! You link to a New Statesman article, taking seriously a comment which in turn come from another article which clearly says it was a joke.'
It's just like the time you fell for the spoof Husky blog.
Now where's that defence of 70% marginal rates you were going to give us, you seem to have forgotten.
How can I forget something that I never offered to do?
Woof Woof!
Can I in turn also look forward to the piece on the marginal 62% rate that Labour brought in regardless of number of children someone had and which continues to exist today.
What is this 70% you speak of by the way?
70% (roughly) is the marginal rate between £50k and £60k caused by the CB unwind for couples with 4+ children.
The 62% rate is a complete shocker. It was a disgrace that it was brought in in that way, and it's an even bigger disgrace that the cut to 45% wasn't used to sort it out. It would even have been good political cover for Osborne: cut the rate to 45%, move the threshold to £135k and get rid of the stupid "withdrawal of allowances" complexity. The only people affected would be those earning between £100-118k who would have been slightly better off at the expense of those earning £135*-150k, on a revenue-neutral basis. What's not to like?
*[I've not done the maths on this for a while, it's £135k give or take £5k IIRC]
Public sector workers thought they'd lose their jobs and in some cases were right to. There'll be a lot more in private sector than public sector (as in 2010) by the next election and that might again mean the Labour 'floor' has altered?
Not my area but random 'straws' that I clutch to and which seems to pick at this strange assumption that 30% is locked in to start with - are any valid?
I've read this a couple of times, and I'm still not sure... are you suggesting that Labour voters who work in the public sector are somehow "cured" of their political beliefs by being employed by a private company instead? I mean, I don't have any evidence to the contrary but it just seems a strange straw to cling to. Can you elaborate?
No - not quite a disease as far as I'm aware. I'm asking if you poll private sector workers, do their numbers tend to be less favourable to Labour than people who are public sector workers that's all.
It would be interesting to analyse. As a starting point, there will obviously be a Labour skew in public sector workers because there will be a correlation between those who believe in an activist state and those who choose to work for it. The question would be whether those views are actually changed by the withdrawal of the jobs they want to do.
Of course, if they believe that a Labour government will recreate those jobs, then that would be a powerful incentive to vote Labour in order to get back to what they wanted to be doing... so hard to call, I'd say.
The truth is that the Tories are unlikely to get a majority with Cameron and Osborne at the helm.Infact I would consider it a success for them if they stop Labour getting a majority.
The rest is just pure wishful thinking from the Tories and their media supporters.
Perdix, one of the consequences of the green taxes is that retail electricity has become much more expensive in Germany (c. €0.30/kwh, against c. €0.20 here). Because retail electricity is so costly, installing solar panels on your roof - without subsidy - is an increasingly good idea (there are no taxes on electricity you've produced yourself). But the result of this is that green taxes are spread over a diminishing base of traditional power generation, pushing them up ever more, and making (unsubsidised) solar look ever more attractive.
Thanks Polruan - so as I thought this constant referral to 70% is a completely random number plucked out of the air by "someone" when it comes to the child benefit changes.
I could tell you the rate is 100%+ but you need to have 10+ children. Maybe that's the next line to take?
"the massive switch of 2010 LDs return of tactical LAB voters from the Lib Dems to LAB......"
Which logic means that even the 2010 Labour vote (including tactical supporters) was well in excess of 31%... and you've still got to have serious concerns about an approach that thinks it's plausible to expect Labour to be *less* popular than under Brown.
Its certainly a hill to climb - but Brown was an incumbent - and Ed is yet to define himself - tho he's had a good couple of weeks (albeit with ratings among Lab VI still below where they were a year ago.)
But OGH's persistent '2010 LIbDems who've switched to Labour' is misleading at best - as Kellner pointed out, they were Lab identifiers who voted tactically for the Lib Dems - not Lib Dems who tore up their membership cards.
And as Gary Gibbon has reminded us today of Polly Toynbee's Miliband conundrum - IF Miliband promises an EU referendum, then UKIP VI might be smart to vote for him - as BREXIT is more likely under a 2015 Miliband premiership than a Cameron one.....
Thanks Polruan - so as I thought this constant referral to 70% is a completely random number plucked out of the air by "someone" when it comes to the child benefit changes.
I could tell you the rate is 100%+ but you need to have 10+ children. Maybe that's the next line to take?
Last I heard the national average wasn't for families to have 4 children.
Not really random. It's been used in quite a few places, most notably the Telegraph which has had some sensible writers complaining about the crapness of the policy. 4 children isn't average but it's not *that* unusual either. I tend to refer to the 66% (I think) rate as a slightly more mainstream impact assessment... the point is that both will apply to a material number of people, and that policy that produces that kind of outcome for a non-negligible number of people is just bad policy.
Meanwhile the Tory election strategy has been leaked
"Osborne reveals the true aim of Help to Buy: to inflate house prices "Hopefully we will get a little housing boom and everyone will be happy as property values go up," the Chancellor reportedly told the cabinet."
Shocking revelation, who on earth can believe that is the point of Help To Buy?
As Richard N pointed out on the last thread.
'Brilliant, tim! You link to a New Statesman article, taking seriously a comment which in turn come from another article which clearly says it was a joke.'
It's just like the time you fell for the spoof Husky blog.
Now where's that defence of 70% marginal rates you were going to give us, you seem to have forgotten.
How can I forget something that I never offered to do?
Woof Woof!
Can I in turn also look forward to the piece on the marginal 62% rate that Labour brought in regardless of number of children someone had and which continues to exist today.
What is this 70% you speak of by the way?
66% is the marginal rate for someone with three kids, but the PB Tory Mantra is
70% marginal rates good 50% marginal rates bad.
I was hoping Watcher might post a substantive defence, then I realised how silly that combination of thoughts was.
Polruan has just provided you with an excellent explanation, but you'll still be making '70%' posts ad infinitum.
Public sector workers thought they'd lose their jobs and in some cases were right to. There'll be a lot more in private sector than public sector (as in 2010) by the next election and that might again mean the Labour 'floor' has altered?
Not my area but random 'straws' that I clutch to and which seems to pick at this strange assumption that 30% is locked in to start with - are any valid?
I've read this a couple of times, and I'm still not sure... are you suggesting that Labour voters who work in the public sector are somehow "cured" of their political beliefs by being employed by a private company instead? I mean, I don't have any evidence to the contrary but it just seems a strange straw to cling to. Can you elaborate?
These won't be the Labour card carriers waving their banners at the GE count, just people who want to put bread on the table. The perception is that Labour favours public sector and Conservative Private sector. So they'll have voted Lab last election, and now Con this election to in a very round about manner keep their jobs. The fact they voted Labour before is neither here nor there to these people.
With the polls suggesting increased Lab support and fewer public sector jobs though I'm not sure how many of these people exist...
What's 4% between friends - a mere rounding, 66% to 70%.
3 children now - is that the national average?
If we're averaging it once was 2.4 (but was shrinking I thought) and of course that rounds to 2 which is then marginal tax of 58% which is less than Labour's 60% (if we exclude NI on all them).
Got to say I don't buy this Miliband exit argument. He won't promise such a referendum, he's pro-EU and he's likelier to try and take us into the euro than out of the EU.
But OGH's persistent '2010 LIbDems who've switched to Labour' is misleading at best - as Kellner pointed out, they were Lab identifiers who voted tactically for the Lib Dems - not Lib Dems who tore up their membership cards.
Thats precisely why Mike is right, those people are even less likely to leave Labour.
That makes no sense. Those who were Lab supporters voting tactically for the LibDems must by definition (unless they're complete idiots) live in Con/LD marginals. If they move back to Labour that's good for the Tories, not bad.
The real focus should be on a completely different group - Labour-leaning people who voted LibDem in Con/Lab battlegrounds. They must have been doing the opposite of tactical voting. How they will behave in 2015 is a key question.
The idea that the Tories are going to attract back a significant share of the UKIP vote is laughable, and I suspect that in the marginals UKIP will, if anything, hold up better rather than worse than elsewhere.
Cameron is - with quite good reason - not trusted at all by UKIP. He has a solid 100% reliable and consistent record over Yerp.
- he welshed on a Lisbon referendum - he has said on the record that he will never take Britain out of the EU - he won't be around for his 2017 referendum - nothing in it compels him to take note of the result anyway.
The only way to get UKIP voters back would be a simple In/Out referendum, ideally on the same day as the GE. If the vote is for Out, this would have to bind the incoming government to give immediate notice under Article Whatever-it-is of Lisbon to leave after 2 years.
Cameron not being leader at the time would probably also help because nobody would really believe any of the above if he were in charge.
Since none of this will happen, the likeliest outcome is a Labour defeat in vote share resulting in a minority Labour government.
And as Gary Gibbon has reminded us today of Polly Toynbee's Miliband conundrum - IF Miliband promises an EU referendum, then UKIP VI might be smart to vote for him - as BREXIT is more likely under a 2015 Miliband premiership than a Cameron one.....
That only really works if Cameron's renegotiation is a huge, triumphant success, which doesn't seem like the most likely outcome to put it mildly. More likely you end up with something like a commitment to leave the social chapter next time there's a treaty and not much else, which narks off mainstream Tories for being too weak but still manages to depress the centre-left into staying at home rather than going out to vote for a choice between two things that they think are both worse than the status quo.
Got to say I don't buy this Miliband exit argument. He won't promise such a referendum, he's pro-EU and he's likelier to try and take us into the euro than out of the EU.
That's why people like Toynbee are trying to warn him off promising one......
Meanwhile the Tory election strategy has been leaked
"Osborne reveals the true aim of Help to Buy: to inflate house prices "Hopefully we will get a little housing boom and everyone will be happy as property values go up," the Chancellor reportedly told the cabinet."
Shocking revelation, who on earth can believe that is the point of Help To Buy?
As Richard N pointed out on the last thread.
'Brilliant, tim! You link to a New Statesman article, taking seriously a comment which in turn come from another article which clearly says it was a joke.'
It's just like the time you fell for the spoof Husky blog.
Now where's that defence of 70% marginal rates you were going to give us, you seem to have forgotten.
How can I forget something that I never offered to do?
Woof Woof!
Can I in turn also look forward to the piece on the marginal 62% rate that Labour brought in regardless of number of children someone had and which continues to exist today.
What is this 70% you speak of by the way?
66% is the marginal rate for someone with three kids, but the PB Tory Mantra is
70% marginal rates good 50% marginal rates bad.
I was hoping Watcher might post a substantive defence, then I realised how silly that combination of thoughts was.
Polruan has just provided you with an excellent explanation, but you'll still be making '70%' posts ad infinitum.
I think tim was asking why you think it's a good idea (assuming you do), not how it's calculated. Actually, I'd be interested too... do you think a policy which gives marginal rate blips like this is a good idea? I've never met a tax professional who thinks it's anything other than poor policy, and the tax profession isn't noted for left wing attitudes (myself excepted, clearly).
Labour History Group @LabourHistory @rob_marchant@anthonypainter Three people who have sat as Labour MPs have won the Nobel Peace Prize, one a party leader (Arthur Henderson)
ISTR some commentators were talking of Bush and Blair getting the peace prize in 2002.
Airlines are catching on, and energy companies and anyone else who is a proxy tax collector should too.
A recent booking:
Fare: 56.60 Passenger Service Charge 35.40 Fuel/Security Charge 36.00 UK Air passenger Duty 26.00
TOTAL 154.00
In other words around two thirds of what I paid was not the 'fare'.
Yeah, although of course the way the airlines do it is particularly disingenuous, since only one of those is a tax, and the others are various elements of their cost of sales, which aren't calculated in any transparent way, and are negotiable between the airline and its suppliers. Fuel surcharges, in particular, are completely arbitrary - although introduced to excuse fare rises when fuel prices went up sharply, they vary massively from airline to airline and are now barely correlated to fuel price movements. Flyertalk has some very interesting threads on the subject.
And as Gary Gibbon has reminded us today of Polly Toynbee's Miliband conundrum - IF Miliband promises an EU referendum, then UKIP VI might be smart to vote for him - as BREXIT is more likely under a 2015 Miliband premiership than a Cameron one.....
That only really works if Cameron's renegotiation is a huge, triumphant success, which doesn't seem like the most likely outcome
The polling shows that if Cameron says 'this is good for Britain' we'd vote to remain. Of course, there would be many voices saying 'its not enough' - but then for some it never will be.....But the main parties would be saying 'stay'.
If Miliband promises a referendum, on the other hand, and wins the GE, a post-Cameron united Conservative party might easily campaign for BREXIT (Labour renegotiations not being their strong suit) increasing the chances of exit.
I think the analysis is sound - hence the warnings to Miliband not to promise a referendum.
That makes no sense. Those who were Lab supporters voting tactically for the LibDems must by definition (unless they're complete idiots) live in Con/LD marginals. If they move back to Labour that's good for the Tories, not bad.
On that definition there are probably a lot of complete idiots out there. There's a reason why the LibDems do those "winning here" leaflets even when they're not winning there. And when Ashcroft tries to nudge voters in Con-Lab marginals with the question about their current constituency, he gets a move from UKIP to... the LibDems.
Also in fairness to these voters last time it was quite hard even for well-informed people to tell how high the Cleggasm would go and how low Labour would sink, let alone non-political people who were being lied to from all sides.
The Tories have got no chance of a majority. They might scrape a 2-3% lead if they're lucky, which in a normally functioning democracy would result in them being at least the largest party.
But since we had the gerrymandering Labour in power for over a decade that isn't possible. Of course this is all the fault of Cameron being a chinless fop or something.
OGH - once again you are suggesting the bedrock floor of Lab is the 30% Brown got. ... There's also the incumbency 'cling to nurse fear' that some will have had after 13 yrs and the encomic concerns, some still believe Brown was ok at running the UK economy (unbelievably) ... Not my area but random 'straws' that I clutch to and which seems to pick at this strange assumption that 30% is locked in to start with - are any valid?
I've also raised the possibility that some 2010 Labour voters could switch to the Conservatives. However, what is curious is that there is no sign of it at all from the opinion polls.
In the opinion polls we see a move of 2010 Lib Dems to Labour and 2010 Conservatives to UKIP, and that is pretty much it.
In 2010, 11% of Labour 2005 voters said they would vote Conservative and 10% Lib Dem, while 11% of Lib Dem 2005 voters said they would vote Conservative and 10% Labour [though this 10% is smaller than the 10% coming in the other direction, as it is a percentage of a smaller number of people who voted Lib Dem in 2005 than Labour]. All other changes are below 10%
Now, the 2013 changes are that 36% of 2010 Lib Dems now say they will vote Labour and 13% of 2010 Conservatives say they will vote UKIP. All other changes are below 10%.
I chose the months of these ICM polls at random, because this sort of difference in the patterns is well-established and stable from poll-to-poll [allowing for random fluctuations due to sampling and weighting issues].
I'm not saying that other changes of opinion are impossible, but they haven't happened yet, for all that the politicians have spent the years since 2010 trying to make them happen.
"He clearly didn’t much like the questioning from Tory MPs Tracey Crouch or Philip Davies either – at one point he even swore at one of the MPs. Well, not quite… but he answered Tracey Crouch with the phrase “with great respect” which is probably the nearest the president of the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice gets to using the “F” word in public."
And as Gary Gibbon has reminded us today of Polly Toynbee's Miliband conundrum - IF Miliband promises an EU referendum, then UKIP VI might be smart to vote for him - as BREXIT is more likely under a 2015 Miliband premiership than a Cameron one.....
That only really works if Cameron's renegotiation is a huge, triumphant success, which doesn't seem like the most likely outcome
The polling shows that if Cameron says 'this is good for Britain' we'd vote to remain. Of course, there would be many voices saying 'its not enough' - but then for some it never will be.....But the main parties would be saying 'stay'.
If Miliband promises a referendum, on the other hand, and wins the GE, a post-Cameron united Conservative party might easily campaign for BREXIT (Labour renegotiations not being their strong suit) increasing the chances of exit.
I think the analysis is sound - hence the warnings to Miliband not to promise a referendum.
The hypothetical questions about what you'd think about an undefined renegotiation result probably aren't very helpful. It's probably just picking up middle option bias. And it won't catch left-wing opposition to rolling back working rights (which is by far the most likely thing for Cameron to actually get) at all unless you specifically poll for it.
I take the point that Con campaigning for out would strengthen out, although I'm not convinced they'd go that far.
I call this bollocks. If there is a booming economy by 2015, it is entirely possible Labour will lose 5-6% of their polling support, as voters shy away from giving the economy back to Balls and Miliband to f*ck up all over again.
These Labour quitters might not necessarily vote Tory, they could go LD, or abstain, but if Labour loses them - game on.
Of course the electoral maths is much harder for the Tories, but we knew that.
A booming economy might not be as good for the Tories as you think. The type that vote Labour will probably think that the economy has been fixed and it's time for Labour to start chucking money their way again. That is in addition to the magic money tree types that expect more money come hell or high water.
Also when some people are actually doing well for themselves it will encourage accusations of "greed" from those that aren't.
Labour History Group @LabourHistory @rob_marchant@anthonypainter Three people who have sat as Labour MPs have won the Nobel Peace Prize, one a party leader (Arthur Henderson)
ISTR some commentators were talking of Bush and Blair getting the peace prize in 2002.
Also in fairness to these voters last time it was quite hard even for well-informed people to tell how high the Cleggasm would go and how low Labour would sink, let alone non-political people who were being lied to from all sides.
I think it's actually simpler than that - there were lots of voters fed up with Labour, but unsure of or prejudiced against the Tories, who voted LibDem as a middle way, a sort of 'fiscal virtue lite' option. Not really tactical voting in the sense of 'I want a Labour MP, but if I can't have that I'll vote LibDem as the next-best thing', more 'I don't want a Labour MP, but I don't want a Tory MP either'.
Now, I'm very happy to accept tim's point that, as things stand at the moment, such voters are saying they'll vote Labour next time. That isn't really the point, though - we already knew that the polls as at today point to a Labour majority. The question is: how will actual behaviour in 2015 compare with what the polls are currently saying?
Anyone who thinks it won't change much should bet the farm on the 6/4 (or better from Betfair) that they can get on Lab Maj. Good luck to any such punters.
I call this bollocks. If there is a booming economy by 2015, it is entirely possible Labour will lose 5-6% of their polling support, as voters shy away from giving the economy back to Balls and Miliband to f*ck up all over again.
These Labour quitters might not necessarily vote Tory, they could go LD, or abstain, but if Labour loses them - game on.
Of course the electoral maths is much harder for the Tories, but we knew that.
Another of Labours secret army signing in -Attention!!
Don't forget the electoral impact of Tories in seats where the Tory has no chance ranting about Labour but voting for the no hope Tory and helping Labour win.
Stand at ease.
I've been away from pb for a couple of hours, earning €60,000 while you were posting on here, but I understand you've made a complete tit of yourself by believing some joke, as you did with the spoof husky blog.
Perhaps you could fill me in?
Stick it in a pension contribution Sean and if you've got 10+ children, the right level of income then courtesy of George you might get 100%+ tax relief on it!
Airlines are catching on, and energy companies and anyone else who is a proxy tax collector should too.
A recent booking:
Fare: 56.60 Passenger Service Charge 35.40 Fuel/Security Charge 36.00 UK Air passenger Duty 26.00
TOTAL 154.00
In other words around two thirds of what I paid was not the 'fare'.
Yeah, although of course the way the airlines do it is particularly disingenuous, since only one of those is a tax, and the others are various elements of their cost of sales, which aren't calculated in any transparent way, and are negotiable between the airline and its suppliers. Fuel surcharges, in particular, are completely arbitrary - although introduced to excuse fare rises when fuel prices went up sharply, they vary massively from airline to airline and are now barely correlated to fuel price movements. Flyertalk has some very interesting threads on the subject.
Quite clever of them though. It appears that they've managed to convince some people that some of the revenue that is going to the airline is in fact a tax levied by the government.
Is this 'man' the most inane in Britain? Big shout-out to him if so (as he also like to tweet).
Owen Jones@OwenJones8442m All this tosh about how much tax rich people contribute. Who creates most of their wealth? Is Tesco’s CEO stacking all the shelves?
"Royal Mail worth 82% more than government's valuation, analyst claims Shares in the privatised postal service could be worth 599p – a hefty premium on the likely 330p flotation price"
"Royal Mail worth 82% more than government's valuation, analyst claims Shares in the privatised postal service could be worth 599p – a hefty premium on the likely 330p flotation price"
They gave away seven years of what they claim the bedroom tax will save in one move? Surely those figures can't be right
'Could' and 'If'.
"Canaccord said Royal Mail could be worth as much as £10bn by 2015 if the company was able to cut 3% of its 150,000 workforce and increase sales by 3%."
I'm chuckling at The Guardian hanging on the word of City analysts, who in the past would have marked out as Satan's little helpers.
Further, with respect to the thread header. If we assume that the Tories can not reach 40% of the national vote, then it is absolutely required that Labour are restricted to no more than 31% of the vote, if the Tories are to achieve a majority. There is simply no other way, particularly if you think that incumbent Lib Dems facing a Conservative challenge will be harder to shift than suggested by UNS.
So the question for Tory strategists is which of these three options is more fruitful to pursue. 1. Try to restrict the Labour vote to 31% or below. 2. Try to increase the Conservative vote to 40% or higher. 3. Give up completely on a Conservative majority government.
I think that Mike can make a fair stab at the argument that (3) is the more realistic option, but I would guess that the job of a Tory strategist is to try to change reality, rather than to merely accept it. Of the two remaining options it generally seems to be that it is easier to reduce your opponent's vote share by sowing doubts about them than it is to boost your own.
So it seems like they do have a decent grip on reality, even if what they are setting out to achieve looks difficult.
OT US, @ robertcostaNRO, who is very good on internal GOP politics, seems to think the Republicans will agree to a six-week debt ceiling extension, but keep the government shut down.
OGH - once again you are suggesting the bedrock floor of Lab is the 30% Brown got. ... There's also the incumbency 'cling to nurse fear' that some will have had after 13 yrs and the encomic concerns, some still believe Brown was ok at running the UK economy (unbelievably) ... Not my area but random 'straws' that I clutch to and which seems to pick at this strange assumption that 30% is locked in to start with - are any valid?
I've also raised the possibility that some 2010 Labour voters could switch to the Conservatives. However, what is curious is that there is no sign of it at all from the opinion polls.
In the opinion polls we see a move of 2010 Lib Dems to Labour and 2010 Conservatives to UKIP, and that is pretty much it.
In 2010, 11% of Labour 2005 voters said they would vote Conservative and 10% Lib Dem, while 11% of Lib Dem 2005 voters said they would vote Conservative and 10% Labour [though this 10% is smaller than the 10% coming in the other direction, as it is a percentage of a smaller number of people who voted Lib Dem in 2005 than Labour]. All other changes are below 10%
Now, the 2013 changes are that 36% of 2010 Lib Dems now say they will vote Labour and 13% of 2010 Conservatives say they will vote UKIP. All other changes are below 10%.
I chose the months of these ICM polls at random, because this sort of difference in the patterns is well-established and stable from poll-to-poll [allowing for random fluctuations due to sampling and weighting issues].
I'm not saying that other changes of opinion are impossible, but they haven't happened yet, for all that the politicians have spent the years since 2010 trying to make them happen.
The percentages you give for LD to Lab and Con to UKIP switchers are not the correct ones . You should use the figures in Table 2 in ICM polls . 24% of 2010 LD voters had moved to Labour in that particular poll and 9% of 2010 Con voters to UKIP .
I think it would be fair to say, Alex Massie isn't a fan:
"Say this for the government, they are at least consistent. Their contemptible lobbying bill is now followed by their equally contemptible immigration bill. Sometimes you think that if it weren’t for Michael Gove and for the fact that David Cameron isn’t Ed Miliband there’d be few reasons to support this government at all."
I call this bollocks. If there is a booming economy by 2015, it is entirely possible Labour will lose 5-6% of their polling support, as voters shy away from giving the economy back to Balls and Miliband to f*ck up all over again.
These Labour quitters might not necessarily vote Tory, they could go LD, or abstain, but if Labour loses them - game on.
Of course the electoral maths is much harder for the Tories, but we knew that.
A booming economy might not be as good for the Tories as you think. The type that vote Labour will probably think that the economy has been fixed and it's time for Labour to start chucking money their way again. That is in addition to the magic money tree types that expect more money come hell or high water.
Also when some people are actually doing well for themselves it will encourage accusations of "greed" from those that aren't.
If a 'booming economy' is good for Lab that really puts the Tories in a tight spot.
The Tories' chances of an overall majority are not good (which is one of the two reasons why I'm very strong on the likelihood of a hung Parliament). Their best strategy is to campaign on competence. If they try to make the next election a battle between right and left, they will lose. If they try to make the next election a battle between right and wrong, they can win.
That appears to be all Gove does between opening Madrassas and giving his mates wheelbarrows full of cash to appoint unqualified heads who last a month.
No wonder the swing voters in the marginals give the Tories such poor support on education
Hunt appears to have responded to the letter as a grown-up might.
That appears to be all Gove does between opening Madrassas and giving his mates wheelbarrows full of cash to appoint unqualified heads who last a month.
Twigg (who he?) tried that with Gove:
Dear Stephen,
Thank you for your response to my letter.
You suggested I should spend more time attending to the government’s education policies. Since the general election we have:
·Opened 81 free schools and approved 211 more, to provide 130,000 extra places once they are full.
·Increased the number of sponsored academies from 203 to 699.
·Allowed all schools to convert to Academy status – an option 2,225 schools have taken so far, so that a majority of secondary schools are now academies........
So the question for Tory strategists is which of these three options is more fruitful to pursue.
1. Try to restrict the Labour vote to 31% or below. 2. Try to increase the Conservative vote to 40% or higher. 3. Give up completely on a Conservative majority government. 4.Replace Cameron with a leader who wins back half the UKIP vote.
1 and 2 obviously. Not that I think they'll succeed.
''That appears to be all Gove does between opening Madrassas and giving his mates wheelbarrows full of cash to appoint unqualified heads who last a month.''
It would be interesting to see what the parents of pupils who attend free schools think of the education their children are getting, and how it compares to the education at the LEA run comprehensives you (presumably) favour.
After the numbers for young adult literacy and numeracy under labour, its amazing that anybody from labour has anything to say about education except 'sorry'
It is a tricky issue for the prime minister: stand firm on the eco charges and he risks alienating Tory voters; bend and he is vulnerable to the allegation that he is condemning the neediest to being unable to keep themselves warm”
Peston misses out bit about Green Taxes taking more of voters' incomes.
Airlines are catching on, and energy companies and anyone else who is a proxy tax collector should too.
A recent booking:
Fare: 56.60 Passenger Service Charge 35.40 Fuel/Security Charge 36.00 UK Air passenger Duty 26.00
TOTAL 154.00
In other words around two thirds of what I paid was not the 'fare'.
Yeah, although of course the way the airlines do it is particularly disingenuous, since only one of those is a tax, and the others are various elements of their cost of sales, which aren't calculated in any transparent way, and are negotiable between the airline and its suppliers. Fuel surcharges, in particular, are completely arbitrary - although introduced to excuse fare rises when fuel prices went up sharply, they vary massively from airline to airline and are now barely correlated to fuel price movements. Flyertalk has some very interesting threads on the subject.
Quite clever of them though. It appears that they've managed to convince some people that some of the revenue that is going to the airline is in fact a tax levied by the government.
I'm not sure - perhaps Ms Vance could comment on whether that was her view? (from context I don't think it was). But you're right that it's often a starting misconception: ithe reaction is most noticeable in the context of loyalty miles redemption flights where typically you have to pay cash charges as well as the headline number of miles. The charges can be massive in some cases, but also completely arbitrary as shown by the way that you can game the system by flying further in some cases, e.g. starting from another country and save money on the (non-tax) charges. People do tend to blame governments for it, which in turn means they get really pissed off when they finally realise how much is airline spin.
I'm rather concerned about the Chinese property bubble. Not only are they building massively speculative developments, but the building quality is, allegedly, rather low.
I call this bollocks. If there is a booming economy by 2015, it is entirely possible Labour will lose 5-6% of their polling support, as voters shy away from giving the economy back to Balls and Miliband to f*ck up all over again.
These Labour quitters might not necessarily vote Tory, they could go LD, or abstain, but if Labour loses them - game on.
Of course the electoral maths is much harder for the Tories, but we knew that.
A booming economy might not be as good for the Tories as you think. The type that vote Labour will probably think that the economy has been fixed and it's time for Labour to start chucking money their way again. That is in addition to the magic money tree types that expect more money come hell or high water.
Also when some people are actually doing well for themselves it will encourage accusations of "greed" from those that aren't.
If a 'booming economy' is good for Lab that really puts the Tories in a tight spot.
Think about who votes Labour in general, it's made up mostly of those that either benefit from public spending and the economically illiterate. With a booming economy the first will group will want more money and then second will think it is safe to vote Labour again.
The fine state of the economy was one of the reasons for the 1997 Labour landslide.
The Tories' chances of an overall majority are not good (which is one of the two reasons why I'm very strong on the likelihood of a hung Parliament). Their best strategy is to campaign on competence. If they try to make the next election a battle between right and left, they will lose. If they try to make the next election a battle between right and wrong, they can win.
Quite so and also don't underestimate the fact that there will be both Tories and Lib Dems anxious to talk up the success of the government (while still taking chunks out of each other). Labour will have to plough a convincing alternative farrow and I suspect unless there is a major economic or political shock between now and 2015 there won't be a momentum for change that will be enough to give Labour an outright majority. Hung parliament in my book too.
Mr. Jessop, there have been at least a few road/rail collapses in China, I think, over the last 5-10 years or so.
It'll be interesting, in a horrendous way, to see what happens if/when China stops having 8% growth every year.
Miss Vance, that's a rather good quote about Afriye. He's on Question Time, tonight, incidentally, along with Jo Swinson, Diane Abbott, Matthew Parris and Sarah Churchwell.
"They (politicians) can't expect to have power stations replaced with new technologies, the network to be upgraded and nationwide energy efficiency schemes all to be funded for free.''
OT US, @ robertcostaNRO, who is very golf on internal GOP politics, seems to think the Republicans will agree to a six-week debt ceiling extension, but keep the government shut down.
Yikes. If true it could me a nasty ride for the equity markets.
"They (politicians) can't expect to have power stations replaced with new technologies, the network to be upgraded and nationwide energy efficiency schemes all to be funded for free.''
''He didn't just go along with Labour policy, he used green issues deliberately to detoxify himself and the Tory brand.''
Indeed. But here's the thing. How would the tories have done in 2010 if he hadn't followed labour into the long green grass? What would have happened if he said cheap energy comes before greenery?
And what would happen now if he broke with labour on greenery?
"They (politicians) can't expect to have power stations replaced with new technologies, the network to be upgraded and nationwide energy efficiency schemes all to be funded for free.''
Well quite.
Ed selling shonky moonbeams again ?
Ed and Justine can encourage their fellow millionaire neighbours to chip in for a mobile generator powered by Mung beans and hypocrisy, when the lights brown out in Dartmouth Park.
''He didn't just go along with Labour policy, he used green issues deliberately to detoxify himself and the Tory brand.''
Indeed. But here's the thing. How would the tories have done in 2010 if he hadn't followed labour into the long green grass? What would have happened if he said cheap energy comes before greenery?
And what would happen now if he broke with labour on greenery?
They'd have come closer to an outright majority, probably. Cameron's motivations for green policies aren't completely clear (are they about doing what he believes to be the right thing, or because he'd get an earbashing in nice metropolitan liberal circles? don't know) but they don't seem to be on the basis of vote winning. Polling showing public support for renewable energy seems soft and based on giving the answer we would like to believe: it doesn't take a very big bribe to get people to abandon those particular principles.
I call this bollocks. If there is a booming economy by 2015, it is entirely possible Labour will lose 5-6% of their polling support, as voters shy away from giving the economy back to Balls and Miliband to f*ck up all over again.
These Labour quitters might not necessarily vote Tory, they could go LD, or abstain, but if Labour loses them - game on.
Of course the electoral maths is much harder for the Tories, but we knew that.
A booming economy might not be as good for the Tories as you think. The type that vote Labour will probably think that the economy has been fixed and it's time for Labour to start chucking money their way again. That is in addition to the magic money tree types that expect more money come hell or high water.
Also when some people are actually doing well for themselves it will encourage accusations of "greed" from those that aren't.
If a 'booming economy' is good for Lab that really puts the Tories in a tight spot.
Think about who votes Labour in general, it's made up mostly of those that either benefit from public spending and the economically illiterate. With a booming economy the first will group will want more money and then second will think it is safe to vote Labour again.
The fine state of the economy was one of the reasons for the 1997 Labour landslide.
That's an interesting theory which does garner some support. However when I stood for the Lib Dems as a young and inexperienced guy in 1995 in a strong Tory ward I almost won against the established and respected incumbent. There was visible contempt and even hatred of the Tories a good two years before 1997. Their card was marked after Major escaped being ejected from office in 1992 despite a nasty recession only for all hell to break loose a few months later. The electorate felt they had been conned and took their delayed revenge made worse by boredom with the Tories, sleaze and all the rest. Things had improved by 1997 but the damage had been done. Blair seemed like a consensual figure, was fresh and appealing - the rest is history
Those circumstances don't apply so much today. If there is a recovery it is fragile and liable to knocks. In such a state of uncertainty the electorate is unlikely to give anyone a landslide.
That's an interesting theory which does garner some support. However when I stood for the Lib Dems as a young and inexperienced guy in 1995 in a strong Tory ward I almost won against the established and respected incumbent. There was visible contempt and even hatred of the Tories a good two years before 1997. Their card was marked after Major escaped being ejected from office in 1992 despite a nasty recession only for all hell to break loose a few months later. The electorate felt they had been conned and took their delayed revenge made worse by boredom with the Tories, sleaze and all the rest. Things had improved by 1997 but the damage had been done. Blair seemed like a consensual figure, was fresh and appealing - the rest is history
Those circumstances don't apply so much today. If there is a recovery it is fragile and liable to knocks. In such a state of uncertainty the electorate is unlikely to give anyone a landslide.
I'd hardly call Major's victory escaping from being ejected from office, didn't he get the most votes ever?
Of course it wasn't the only reason for their loss, the Tories were tired and there was the whole sleaze thing, but people were happy to give Labour a go with a decent economy which had low inflation, debt and unemployment and good solid growth since all the hard work had been done and it would take a complete and utter idiot to screw it up from there.
I'm certainly not predicting a Labour landslide, next time just that I don't think a booming economy would save the Tories.
Comments
Table 5.1.2
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/244580/qep_sep_13.pdf
Diesel Duty and VAT c. 84p (58% of price) of 139p
It had a familiar, comfortable and entirely balanced perspective I thought. Should ask the Guardian if they'd like a similar one too maybe?
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/high-costs-and-errors-of-german-transition-to-renewable-energy-a-920288.html
'Brilliant, tim! You link to a New Statesman article, taking seriously a comment which in turn come from another article which clearly says it was a joke.'
It's just like the time you fell for the spoof Husky blog.
England 28.1 %
Wales 36.1%
Scotland 42.0%
I would be interested to know what Labour's % would have been excluding Scotland where Labour outperformed in 2010 as my vague memory serves me so there could be slippage in Scotland? Brown may be viewed more fondly than Miliband there perhaps?
There's also the incumbency 'cling to nurse fear' that some will have had after 13 yrs and the encomic concerns, some still believe Brown was ok at running the UK economy (unbelievably).
Public sector workers thought they'd lose their jobs and in some cases were right to. There'll be a lot more in private sector than public sector (as in 2010) by the next election and that might again mean the Labour 'floor' has altered?
Not my area but random 'straws' that I clutch to and which seems to pick at this strange assumption that 30% is locked in to start with - are any valid?
Farron leading the Lib Dems and Monkton leading UKIP should be good enough for a CON majority.
Woof Woof!
It's a tough gig, though, no doubt about it.
Can I in turn also look forward to the piece on the marginal 62% rate that Labour brought in regardless of number of children someone had and which continues to exist today.
What is this 70% you speak of by the way?
Labour History Group @LabourHistory
@rob_marchant @anthonypainter Three people who have sat as Labour MPs have won the Nobel Peace Prize, one a party leader (Arthur Henderson)
The 62% rate is a complete shocker. It was a disgrace that it was brought in in that way, and it's an even bigger disgrace that the cut to 45% wasn't used to sort it out. It would even have been good political cover for Osborne: cut the rate to 45%, move the threshold to £135k and get rid of the stupid "withdrawal of allowances" complexity. The only people affected would be those earning between £100-118k who would have been slightly better off at the expense of those earning £135*-150k, on a revenue-neutral basis. What's not to like?
*[I've not done the maths on this for a while, it's £135k give or take £5k IIRC]
Of course, if they believe that a Labour government will recreate those jobs, then that would be a powerful incentive to vote Labour in order to get back to what they wanted to be doing... so hard to call, I'd say.
The rest is just pure wishful thinking from the Tories and their media supporters.
Rinse, and repeat.
I could tell you the rate is 100%+ but you need to have 10+ children. Maybe that's the next line to take?
http://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/6527
Last I heard the national average wasn't for families to have 4 children.
But OGH's persistent '2010 LIbDems who've switched to Labour' is misleading at best - as Kellner pointed out, they were Lab identifiers who voted tactically for the Lib Dems - not Lib Dems who tore up their membership cards.
And as Gary Gibbon has reminded us today of Polly Toynbee's Miliband conundrum - IF Miliband promises an EU referendum, then UKIP VI might be smart to vote for him - as BREXIT is more likely under a 2015 Miliband premiership than a Cameron one.....
Companies should be much more savvy in detailing how much of the cost of an item is due to government taxation of one sort or another.
Airlines are catching on, and energy companies and anyone else who is a proxy tax collector should too.
With 18 months to go to the election, our labour-supporting friends are offering up a goodly number of hostages to fortune.
With the polls suggesting increased Lab support and fewer public sector jobs though I'm not sure how many of these people exist...
3 children now - is that the national average?
If we're averaging it once was 2.4 (but was shrinking I thought) and of course that rounds to 2 which is then marginal tax of 58% which is less than Labour's 60% (if we exclude NI on all them).
Anything over 40%+NI is too high in my book.
The real focus should be on a completely different group - Labour-leaning people who voted LibDem in Con/Lab battlegrounds. They must have been doing the opposite of tactical voting. How they will behave in 2015 is a key question.
Cameron is - with quite good reason - not trusted at all by UKIP. He has a solid 100% reliable and consistent record over Yerp.
- he welshed on a Lisbon referendum
- he has said on the record that he will never take Britain out of the EU
- he won't be around for his 2017 referendum
- nothing in it compels him to take note of the result anyway.
The only way to get UKIP voters back would be a simple In/Out referendum, ideally on the same day as the GE. If the vote is for Out, this would have to bind the incoming government to give immediate notice under Article Whatever-it-is of Lisbon to leave after 2 years.
Cameron not being leader at the time would probably also help because nobody would really believe any of the above if he were in charge.
Since none of this will happen, the likeliest outcome is a Labour defeat in vote share resulting in a minority Labour government.
Fare: 56.60
Passenger Service Charge 35.40
Fuel/Security Charge 36.00
UK Air passenger Duty 26.00
TOTAL 154.00
In other words around two thirds of what I paid was not the 'fare'.
(fx: Googles). Ah yes, they were nominated:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/1801773.stm
They were nominated in 2004 as well. Someone must have been having a laugh...
http://www.rense.com/general48/vlai.htm
If Miliband promises a referendum, on the other hand, and wins the GE, a post-Cameron united Conservative party might easily campaign for BREXIT (Labour renegotiations not being their strong suit) increasing the chances of exit.
I think the analysis is sound - hence the warnings to Miliband not to promise a referendum.
Also in fairness to these voters last time it was quite hard even for well-informed people to tell how high the Cleggasm would go and how low Labour would sink, let alone non-political people who were being lied to from all sides.
But since we had the gerrymandering Labour in power for over a decade that isn't possible. Of course this is all the fault of Cameron being a chinless fop or something.
In the opinion polls we see a move of 2010 Lib Dems to Labour and 2010 Conservatives to UKIP, and that is pretty much it.
Compare Table 3 from the March 2013 ICM Guardian poll with that from March 2010
In 2010, 11% of Labour 2005 voters said they would vote Conservative and 10% Lib Dem, while 11% of Lib Dem 2005 voters said they would vote Conservative and 10% Labour [though this 10% is smaller than the 10% coming in the other direction, as it is a percentage of a smaller number of people who voted Lib Dem in 2005 than Labour]. All other changes are below 10%
Now, the 2013 changes are that 36% of 2010 Lib Dems now say they will vote Labour and 13% of 2010 Conservatives say they will vote UKIP. All other changes are below 10%.
I chose the months of these ICM polls at random, because this sort of difference in the patterns is well-established and stable from poll-to-poll [allowing for random fluctuations due to sampling and weighting issues].
I'm not saying that other changes of opinion are impossible, but they haven't happened yet, for all that the politicians have spent the years since 2010 trying to make them happen.
"He clearly didn’t much like the questioning from Tory MPs Tracey Crouch or Philip Davies either – at one point he even swore at one of the MPs. Well, not quite… but he answered Tracey Crouch with the phrase “with great respect” which is probably the nearest the president of the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice gets to using the “F” word in public."
http://blogs.channel4.com/gary-gibbon-on-politics/pinteresque-leveson-appearance/26754#sthash.4JQseRVE.dpuf
I take the point that Con campaigning for out would strengthen out, although I'm not convinced they'd go that far.
Also when some people are actually doing well for themselves it will encourage accusations of "greed" from those that aren't.
Now, I'm very happy to accept tim's point that, as things stand at the moment, such voters are saying they'll vote Labour next time. That isn't really the point, though - we already knew that the polls as at today point to a Labour majority. The question is: how will actual behaviour in 2015 compare with what the polls are currently saying?
Anyone who thinks it won't change much should bet the farm on the 6/4 (or better from Betfair) that they can get on Lab Maj. Good luck to any such punters.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-24476026
About as illuminating as Westminster.....
Owen Jones@OwenJones8442m
All this tosh about how much tax rich people contribute. Who creates most of their wealth? Is Tesco’s CEO stacking all the shelves?
Mildly worrying, as I'm in the middle of proof-reading something.
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2013/10/gove-sets-early-policy-test-for-tristram-hunt/
It's clearly bollocks.
'Could' and 'If'.
"Canaccord said Royal Mail could be worth as much as £10bn by 2015 if the company was able to cut 3% of its 150,000 workforce and increase sales by 3%."
I'm chuckling at The Guardian hanging on the word of City analysts, who in the past would have marked out as Satan's little helpers.
So the question for Tory strategists is which of these three options is more fruitful to pursue.
1. Try to restrict the Labour vote to 31% or below.
2. Try to increase the Conservative vote to 40% or higher.
3. Give up completely on a Conservative majority government.
I think that Mike can make a fair stab at the argument that (3) is the more realistic option, but I would guess that the job of a Tory strategist is to try to change reality, rather than to merely accept it. Of the two remaining options it generally seems to be that it is easier to reduce your opponent's vote share by sowing doubts about them than it is to boost your own.
So it seems like they do have a decent grip on reality, even if what they are setting out to achieve looks difficult.
http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2013/10/china-accidentally-built-a-housing-complex-in-the-middle-of-a-highway/
Ooops. :-)
"Say this for the government, they are at least consistent. Their contemptible lobbying bill is now followed by their equally contemptible immigration bill. Sometimes you think that if it weren’t for Michael Gove and for the fact that David Cameron isn’t Ed Miliband there’d be few reasons to support this government at all."
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2013/10/theresa-mays-immigration-bill-is-another-contemptible-piece-of-legislation/
Reminds me a bit of a piece I saw on the new a year or two ago about a whole city the Chinese had built, which was practically a ghost town.
Dear Stephen,
Thank you for your response to my letter.
You suggested I should spend more time attending to the government’s education policies. Since the general election we have:
·Opened 81 free schools and approved 211 more, to provide 130,000 extra places once they are full.
·Increased the number of sponsored academies from 203 to 699.
·Allowed all schools to convert to Academy status – an option 2,225 schools have taken so far, so that a majority of secondary schools are now academies........
And on.....and on.....and on.....
Full text:
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2013/06/michael-gove-kindly-warns-stephen-twigg-people-think-youre-weak/
It would be interesting to see what the parents of pupils who attend free schools think of the education their children are getting, and how it compares to the education at the LEA run comprehensives you (presumably) favour.
After the numbers for young adult literacy and numeracy under labour, its amazing that anybody from labour has anything to say about education except 'sorry'
Peston misses out bit about Green Taxes taking more of voters' incomes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24465979
Add on the selective amnesia from Brant on Miliband's Green Tax and the careful use of data post 2008...
James Chapman (Mail) tweets: Overheard: 'There'd have to be a fairly bad nuclear war before @AdamAfriyie became Prime Minister'
http://www.policymic.com/articles/50451/17-haunting-images-of-china-s-ghost-cities
I'm rather concerned about the Chinese property bubble. Not only are they building massively speculative developments, but the building quality is, allegedly, rather low.
A Forbes article of why my concerns may, or may not, be valid:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2013/09/24/what-investors-really-think-about-chinas-ghost-cities/
The fine state of the economy was one of the reasons for the 1997 Labour landslide.
Even as a tory I have to say it serves him bl88dy right for going along with labour policy.
It'll be interesting, in a horrendous way, to see what happens if/when China stops having 8% growth every year.
Miss Vance, that's a rather good quote about Afriye. He's on Question Time, tonight, incidentally, along with Jo Swinson, Diane Abbott, Matthew Parris and Sarah Churchwell.
Wouldn't surprise me if 2015 was a status quo result with relatively very few seats changing hands.
There is no 3 term deep urge for a sea change , the economy is house price bubbling up nicely* - and Ed is crap.
* juicy worm on a hook.
"They (politicians) can't expect to have power stations replaced with new technologies, the network to be upgraded and nationwide energy efficiency schemes all to be funded for free.''
Well quite.
Indeed. But here's the thing. How would the tories have done in 2010 if he hadn't followed labour into the long green grass? What would have happened if he said cheap energy comes before greenery?
And what would happen now if he broke with labour on greenery?
"He didn't just go along with Labour policy, he used green issues deliberately to detoxify himself and the Tory brand."
It's worse than that, tim, I think he actually believes it. I assume you haven't fallen for all Ed's green hogwash (he's another believer).
I believe in looking after the flora and the fauna - but let's concentrate on the edible variety.
If the tories are, they all are.
I wonder if Mr Farage has noticed.
Those circumstances don't apply so much today. If there is a recovery it is fragile and liable to knocks. In such a state of uncertainty the electorate is unlikely to give anyone a landslide.
FWIW, I concur.
c. 60% of pump price is excise duty and VAT. c.83.4p on top of price of c. 56p per litre. You pay 139 per litre in August.
Table 5 1 1
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/244580/qep_sep_13.pdf
No of seats that will change hands - bands of 10 say.
No charge - you can thank me later.
Only themselves.
Punters are certainly not fooled. Best price on CON MAJ is 3/1
Do you think that's the best someone looking to get on the tories will get between now and 2015? or will it widen further between now and then?
Of course it wasn't the only reason for their loss, the Tories were tired and there was the whole sleaze thing, but people were happy to give Labour a go with a decent economy which had low inflation, debt and unemployment and good solid growth since all the hard work had been done and it would take a complete and utter idiot to screw it up from there.
I'm certainly not predicting a Labour landslide, next time just that I don't think a booming economy would save the Tories.