Tuesday, 2 March 2010

Today's newslinks

Tory lead is at 5% and 7% in two new opinion polls - Yesterday evening's ToryDiary

Professor John Curtice examines the detail of The Independent/ ComRes poll: "It appears the recession has helped to persuade people that Labour can indeed run the economy effectively. Our poll shows that people now have just as much confidence in Mr Brown's ability to restore Britain to economic health as they do in Mr Cameron's skill. Also, voters are seemingly looking at Mr Brown afresh. Our poll suggests that he is now regarded only a little less highly than Mr Cameron. Labour's task now is to reinforce these two new impressions."

Steve Richards blames a Tory failure to 'bomb-proof' policies for the opinion poll wobble - Independent

Ken Clarke hammers Labour's economic record

"The UK is the last economy in the G20 to leave recession and is now witnessing one of the weakest recoveries in the industrialised world. Our budget deficit is the highest of any developed country. One in five of our young people cannot find work. Perhaps most striking of all, one pound in every four our government spends has to be borrowed from the markets." - The Shadow Business Secretary writing for the Daily Mail

Tories will accelerate schools' path to academy status

GOVE MICHAEL NW

"The Conservatives hope to boost the educational standards of younger children by ousting governors and heads at poor-performing primary schools and turning them into academies. High-performing primaries would also be able to seek the semi-independent status of academies under a Tory government, on the grounds that they would be competent enough to be given more autonomy." - FT

"Schools already judged to be outstanding would be spared further Ofsted inspections under a Conservative government, unless their results fell dramatically, scores of teachers left, or huge numbers of parents complained, Michael Gove, the Tory shadow education secretary, said." - Guardian

Cameron: I don't want my son to go to Eton - Daily Mail

Coverage of Lord Ashcroft's tax disclosure

Screen shot 2010-03-02 at 08.36.28

"Ashcroft and his firms have donated more than £6.8m since 2001, according to the Electoral Commission. But since 2005 the vast bulk has been to the central party, not local associations." - Guardian

"He had promised to keep his tax status private until everybody else had to reveal theirs but Lord Ashcroft finally lifted the lid on his lucrative arrangement with the taxman yesterday... One mystery is whether the admission that he is a “non-dom” — a global jet-setter exempt from full British taxes — came as a surprise to David Cameron and his predecessors. Or did they know all along?" - Times

"Lord Ashcroft is a man who revels in his political notoriety. The deputy chairman has been known to amuse staff at Conservative Campaign Headquarters, where he has an office, with his impression of Blofeld, the villain from James Bond. A toy white cat has even been provided as a prop." - Times

"The revelation of his non-dom tax status, dragged out through the Freedom of Information Act, is an acute embarrassment for the Tories. It proves the party's deputy chairman, who is playing a pivotal role in the election campaign, was passing laws in the House of Lords while avoiding tax on most of his fortune. It also adds to the impression in voters' minds of the Conservatives as a party for the very rich." - Independent

Cameron's attacks on Brown's character are turning off women, warns Rachel Sylvester

"If he continues to concentrate on a character assassination of the Prime Minister rather than on emphasising what he would do in No 10, he will turn off voters — particularly women. If he uses the sort of language in the TV debates that he has deployed in the Commons recently the electorate will be appalled. It would be a huge mistake for the youthful challenger to turn himself into the big clunking fist." - Rachel Sylvester in The Times

Australia's Tony Abbott is a model for David Cameron - Melanie Phillips in The Australian

Brown may get first chance at governing in event of hung parliament

Queen's-Speech-procession

"If the constitutional rules of the game are followed, then unless and until Cameron can give the palace a pretty much cast-iron guarantee that he has the numbers to survive a vote of confidence on a Conservative Queen's speech, Brown will be perfectly entitled to stay right where he is. Moreover, while he's staying there, the PM will be perfectly entitled to talk to other parties about them joining him in coalition or supporting a minority Labour government in return for, oh, I don't know, a referendum on the alternative vote?" - Tim Bale in The Guardian

The Tories should consider electoral reform - Geoffrey Wheatcroft in the FT

"The prospect of a hung parliament on Monday sent the pound below $1.50 as gilts markets grew increasingly anxious that the forthcoming election could produce a messy result." - FT

BBC 6 Music should be saved, says Ed Vaizey - Telegraph

Mandelson calls for tougher takeover rules to take account of employee interests - BBC

Brown accuses the Tories of "ramping up" public panic over crime - Telegraph

29% want English Parliament

"40 per cent of people in England feel that Scotland receives more than its fair share of public funds - an increase from 22 per cent in 2003. Just under half of those asked believe England's laws should continue to be made at Westminster and 29 per cent now back a new parliament for the country." - Telegraph

Posted by Britannia Radio at 09:20