Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Labour campaign

Last week, we saw the Conservative Party's big promises. Here's Labour's version.

Gordon Brown reveals five key general election pledges

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said the economic recovery is top of his list of five election pledges, as he hailed Labour as the "people's party"…

He pledged to use the internet to measure how pledges are met and publish an annual contract for ministers...

Mr Brown's other pledges were to raise living standards, protect frontline services, strengthen community fairness and build a hi-tech economy...

He promised new ways of measuring progress against the pledges online, and said cabinet ministers would have to sign up to public, annual contracts outlining what they were expected to deliver...

He also said the head of the civil service, Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell, would be asked to "performance manage" departments' top civil servants against their delivery of the pledges…

Brown and Party Show Signs of Life

The latest opinion polls have shown a marked swing toward Labour with less than six weeks to go before the expected election day, May 6. Many forecasts now are for a neck-and-neck race that could produce a squeaking Labour victory, or a “hung Parliament” in which neither major party achieves a majority. In that event, the Conservatives, even with more Commons seats than Labour, would probably have to accept a minority government formed by Mr. Brown and Labour with the support of the left-leaning Liberal Democrats, Britain’s other major party…

One of the country’s most widely respected pollsters, YouGov, just published a new opinion survey showing that Labour had drawn within two percentage points of the Conservatives, Labour’s best showing in two years…

The YouGov poll was not the only one to shake the Conservatives’ confidence. Another survey, by Ipsos MORI, showed that a core Conservative strategy for the election… is faltering. Like the YouGov poll, the survey also showed a fall in national support for the Conservatives to a 4 percent lead over Labour. Even The Daily Telegraph, a strong supporter of the Conservatives, said that thin margin would make it impossible for Mr. Cameron to win a commons majority.

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Labels: elections, leadership, politics, UK