General Election 2015: Populus poll places Conservatives and Labour neck and neck… still May 5, 2015 The Conservatives and Labour are still neck and neck just days from the General Election according to the latest polling. The two main parties remain on an equal footing – as they largely have done during campaigning – according to the Populus poll for the FT, which pegs the rival parties on 34 points. Populus [...]
General Election 2015: Tories confident they can win a majority without Lib Dem support May 5, 2015 Senior Conservatives hit back at the Liberal Democrats yesterday, insisting they can win an outright majority without the help of their current coalition partners, as members of all major parties feuded over possible post-election deals. With just two days to go until the General Election and polls pointing to a hung parliament, chancellor George Osborne [...]
General Election 2015: Haynes Publishing Group chairman John Haynes wants a focus on education and a commitment on corporation tax May 5, 2015 ELECTION COUNTDOWN: 2 DAYS TO GO Every day of the election campaign, we have been asking a business leader to say what policies would entice them to vote for a particular party. Here is our penultimate item. JOHN (J) HAYNES: GROUP CHAIRMAN, HAYNES PUBLISHING GROUP On a Sunday evening it’s not unusual for [...]
The stats man at the centre of a political storm: IFS boss Paul Johnson on how he copes with the limelight May 5, 2015 At an event in Bloomsbury last week, a journalist started a question to Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) director Paul Johnson: “If the IFS was standing for election…” before Johnson interrupted, finishing the sentence. “We wouldn’t get elected,” he said with a laugh. Johnson may not be seeking public office, but he and [...]
London’s General Election: Lib Dem Bermondsey battler Simon Hughes still going strong May 5, 2015 Our second seat profile sees Charlotte Henry join the Lib Dems in Bermondsey. Find the first profile in our series here: Battle for Poplar and Limehouse at the edge of the City Being a Liberal Democrat candidate in London is a tough ask at the moment, with Labour aiming to make gains in the [...]
Conservative Bow Group split over chairman’s Ukip endorsement May 4, 2015 The Tory party's oldest think tank is at loggerheads this evening after the group's chairman said fellow Conservatives should vote Ukip in seats where the Tories can't win but Ukip may stand a chance. The Bow Group, which was founded in 1951, counts many senior Conservatives among its patrons and has 10,000 members. Speaking to the [...]
General Election 2015: Nicola Sturgeon ups stakes over legitimacy without “Scottish voices” May 4, 2015 Nicola Sturgeon has opened up fresh questions over the legitimacy of the next government if the General Election produces a hung parliament. Speaking on the campaign trail in Dumfries on Sunday the first minister said a government that did not reflect the choice of the Scottish electorate would not be legitimate. "Surely a test of [...]
Nick Clegg to be saved in Sheffield Hallam thanks to Tory tactical voting, says latest poll May 4, 2015 Nick Clegg is set to win his Sheffield Hallam seat thanks to a substantial number of Tory voters who are planning to switch to the Lib Dems to keep Labour out. A Guardian ICM poll shows Clegg on 42 per cent compared with his Labour challenger Oliver Coppard on 35 per cent. The Conservative candidate [...]
David Axelrod compares embattled Douglas Alexander to Barack Obama May 4, 2015 Labour's shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander, who is battling to cling on to his Paisley and Renfrewshire South seat, has been compared to Barack Obama by the man who was instrumental to the President's two election victories. David Axelrod who served as a senior adviser to Obama and is now working as a consultant for [...]
Brexit: Voters back EU membership as support for a referendum falls May 4, 2015 As things stand, Britain is more likely than not to vote to stay in the EU than support Brexit if there is a referendum following the General Election. A new poll for the Times' Red Box showed 34 per cent of people said they would definitely vote for Britain to remain in the EU compared [...]