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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » The issues: Which parties are seen to be best
politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » The issues: Which parties are seen to be best
The chart above shows the latest YouGov best party on specific issues tracker. Today’s figures are not remarkable but I thought it useful to post as a reference point.
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That said, I would expect the message will be "we've made great progress, let us finish the job" or some kind of variant. (combined with get rid of the LibDem monkey on our back*)
* Not afraid of being accused of being racist by using the term "monkey" as the LibDems don't have any non-white MPs...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24626422
Also the Tory's lead on Europe is - considering how much they go on about it - relatively small.
"This tank is full of political promises..."
Arf!
Irony just sucks ...
The most encouraging numbers for the Conservatives are the big lead on the economy, and the fact they're almost level-pegging with Labour on Jobs, an area of historic Labour strength,
There's a good chance the Tories would be seen as better at creating jobs.
Labour would be seen as better at preserving existing jobs.
BREAKING: Sir John Major calls for George Osborne to impose a new profits tax on energy companies to help struggling consumers
"God they've got us on this power thing what on earth are we going to do? We've committed ourselves to opposing it but they [gestures outside to the public] seem to like it. We're sc****ed. Any ideas Lynton?"
"Well....isn't John Major a Tory, a non-posho, quite a popular PM if you see what I mean. Let's get him to float some response. Say a tax or something.
"People will love that..Tories..men of the people...sensible ideas...and we can claim it will generate the right sort of debate."
Job done.
"George Osborne’s economic plan won the backing of one of the biggest figures in global finance yesterday.
Alan Greenspan, who was chairman of the US Federal Reserve for nearly 20 years, said Britain’s austerity programme is working.
Record high levels of employment and the recent pick-up in economic output showed he was wrong to doubt the Coalition’s efforts to eradicate the deficit, he admitted.
His comments, in an interview with the BBC, came at the start of another crucial week for the economy amid signs that the recovery is gaining momentum.
Official figures are expected to show today that the Government borrowed less last month than in September last year.
A separate report on Friday is likely to show economic growth in the third quarter of the year was even stronger than the 0.7 per cent clocked up in the second quarter.
Mr Greenspan, 87, who ran the Fed from 1987 to 2006, said he was surprised the economy was managing to grow at all given the scale of cuts planned by the Chancellor.
‘What Britain has done with its austerity programme has worked much better than I thought it would,’ he said.
‘I have had discussions with George Osborne and others and as far as I can judge, it is coming out pretty much the way they had expected.’"
John Major has just made George Osborne cancel all his afternoon meetings. Kicked over a hornets' nest re emergency energy profits tax
The second problem is that all major parties have been wedded to this, so it's hard to undo. Miliband was previously happy with more and more taxes on energy.
An extra tax or a price freeze will only hit consumers later down the the line, but if that's what the people want...
"Oliver Cooper @OliverCooper 7m
John Major calls for a tax on energy companies' "windfall profits". What windfall profits? Their average profit margin is under 5%."
WTF does 'Best on the NHS' mean? Best at preserving the status quo? Best at serving patients' needs? Best at driving efficiency? Best at protecting the BMA? The NHS is not without huge flaws and is in need of reform - patient interest driven reform. Is the challenge not to preserve but reform the NHS? Very woolly wording.
On jobs: Well Labour can borrow and spend and create public sector jobs with the 'best' of them. The Tories maybe represent bad news for public sector employment but much better news for employment generally. What is the question asking? Is spending money on non-jobs a good thing or a bad thing? I'd say bad. Others would say good.
The questions should be alot sharper.
The energy companies need a shake up and if takes an emergency tax on them to bring them to their senses, so be it. Someone should point out to all Westminster village occupants that there are large parts of the country where houses are not heated by gas or electricity. Both oil and solid fuel are prohibitively expensive.
That brings me to Grangemouth. I wonder what Eck will do if the American owner announces tomorrow that he will only re-open the plant if the workforce becomes non-unionised and demands UNITE is sent packing.
UNITE are calling for a new owner with a social conscience, i.e. one which will bow to demands made by UNITE and the Scottish news was reporting at lunchtime that John Swinney is casting around for someone to buy Grangemouth from INEOS.
Where it would be interesting would be in comparing the views of specific groups of voters - which is what tim has picked up on by pointing out the views of 2010 Lib Dems who have switched to Labour.
"I can say what I think now," says Sir John Major - and he certainly has #pressgallery #storyfest
Pay rises all round !
Osborne was surely considering windfall tax on energy companies as a riposte to Labour. Major has destroyed element of surprise.
Is he an ethical banker (misprint).
Conservative party "would be better off without Scotland" but UK wouldn't, Sir John Major tells #pressgallery
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24627442
B. £200M and rising.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/grangemouth-alex-salmond-in-hunt-for-buyer-1-3149580
#bbcqt panel this Thursday: @trussliz @CarolineFlintMP @timfarron @OwenJones84 and Peter Hitchens (@ClarkeMicah)
Seemed quite spritely for his very considerable age but not particularly convincing on dealing with bubbles. He was quick to correct Evan and point out that the wheels came off 3 years after he stood down not 2 but that was really the case for the defence.
At least he is still willing to look at the facts rather than simply espouse his own prejudices.
John Major in summary: Tories should have a heart. Eurosceptics are still wrong and still bastards. Energy companies deserve a windfall
He must have ;-)
EDIT: But it does explain Nick Clegg...!
RT @JihadWidow: I have been told twitter likes cat pics. Here is mine. Ally Ackbar!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BXLqI2yCYAE9eeF.jpg:large
The problem is that the feed stock from the North sea is running out and the site needs to substantially improve it's harbour access to obtain more base material to work the site at anything like full capacity. There has to be an economic case for that capital investment and at the moment there simply isn't.
Without the new investment the site will die. It does not look good. A government that had Scotland's interests at heart would be moving heaven and earth to involve Westminster on this and try to find a way to subsidise the capital needs without falling foul of EU law. But I can't see that happening either.
"Revenge, they say, is a dish best eaten cold. Sir John Major has waited a very long time – 20 years to be precise. And he has chosen to eat it in the press gallery dining room.
Back in 1993 Iain Duncan Smith led the opposition to John Major over Maastricht. Over the gallery lunch today Mr Major led the opposition to Iain Duncan Smith over welfare reform: "Unless Iain Duncan Smith is very lucky, which he may not be, or a genius, which is unproven, he may get some of it wrong."
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peteroborne/100242545/sir-john-major-boosts-ed-miliband-and-undermines-his-old-enemy-iain-duncan-smith-this-is-what-revenge-looks-like/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-24622478
The LDs appear to be well down in third place on all major issues - except when beaten into fourth place by the ‘others’..!
Time to upgrade ‘dog-poo’ to major status, me thinks.
Sir John Major calls for windfall tax on energy profits
Sir John said the government should act if firms asked for unjustified price rises
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24621391#TWEET931203
What are the odds its leads @6?
Sustainable improvements in living standards and reductions in unemployment cannot happen independently of fixing the economy (defining the 'economy' simplistically as growth).
Of course this economic truth may not translate into popular perception. Voters may believe that unemployment can be reduced and living standards improved without the economy being managed competently.
But to accept such perceptions at face value implies the assumption that voters are ignorant of the facts. This would be unwise.
The inconsistency of a Tory lead on the economy with a Labour lead on unemployment more likely results from different perceptions about the nature of the tasks associated with each issue. Fixing the economy may be seen as a 'hard task', involving cuts and tax rises and reductions in services, whereas fixing 'jobs' may be seen more as a 'soft task' caring for the jobless, the vulnerable and disadvantaged.
It may well be that Labour scores highly on tasks requiring a soft, caring approach whereas the Tories do better when a tough approach is needed. So the fact that the Tories are rated higher on the economy and Labour on jobs may simply reflect public perceptions about the best approach to solving each type of problem.
If this is the case then there will be not only a prioritised list of issues in the public's mind but a hierarchy of approaches. In economic downtimes, a 'hard' approach may be perceived as being more effective and necessary than a 'soft' approach. A voter might feel that Labour would be better than the Tories in dealing with the unemployed but that the economy needs fixing first making a Conservative or Coalition government overall the better of the two options.
It would be interesting to see some pollsters getting respondents to rank not only issues on salience but their attitudes to the differing types of approach to problem solving and to see whether certain issues are dependent on others..
Nothing like getting plenty of impairment in on a good year
Still at least its a British company, seems 4 out of the 6 are actually spanish , french and 2 german
So they need to increase revenue too.
Good news for Salmond is that it prob wont close before next Sept.
However for an "oil rich" nation to have to import 80% of it's petrol is embarrassing at best.
http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com/stumbling_and_mumbling/2013/10/intellectuals-in-politics.html
What interesting bedfellows you make....
http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/10/22/scotland-refinery-announcement-idINL5N0IC20S20131022
Given INEOS track, I'd guess 'closure'......
Jeremy Hunt @Jeremy_Hunt
Need to know will Lab vote to raise 500m 4 NHS from overseas visitors; is it 'diversionary', 'xenophobic' or fairness for British taxpayers?
Hall revealed the make-up of the audience for Question Time. It was 30% Conservative supporters, 30% Labour supporters, 10% Lib Dems, 10% Ukip or another minor party, 5% others and 15% don't knows, he said.
When MG Rover closed in the run up to the 2005 GE, Con & Labour treated it as a 'natural disaster' and neither side sought to apportion blame...
A successful modern Tory Party should surely be, excuse the phrase, One Nation? Broadly liberal and inclusive, supportive of small business and community enterprise, of individual endevour but finding ways to give the hard-pressed a leg up, champions of efficient free markets but not afraid to intervene, suspicious of but not outright hostile to the power of the State as force for good, etc.
Instead we have the current crop sticking up for a rotten little clutch of massive energy companies, consistently demonising or at best dismissing those in poverty or unemployment, attacking charities and trade unions, doing fiscal favours for millionaires and big business, farming out chunks of our NHS to big business. Go home vans....go home vans!
It's baffling, because the centre is where the votes are. Instead, their wait for a majority looks like extending to 28 years at least. Cameron's detox PR was briefly promising, but never had any substance. Instead they seem wedded to a warped, corporatist ultra-Thatcherite ideology.
Sir John gave a glimpse of a Tory Party I could almost vote for. Hard-nosed and pragmatic, but not the Nasty Party it has once again become.
Grangemouth could become the new Polmaise where the only thing the trade unions achieved was the closure of the plant and total job losses for all concerned.
The new owners of the Coop Bank could call in Ed and Ed and ask how they intend to repay their indebtedness, failing which call in Labour's overdraft and borrowings.
Ed and Ed could have an interesting time on Friday explaining how the UK economy is stagnating.
http://blogs.reuters.com/hugo-dixon/2013/10/21/brexit-process-would-be-messy/
Not that they'll listen.