Polling shows huge surge in % of public blaming the coalition for the cuts

Lib Dems ready for new coalition with the Tories – even if Labour wins more seats

By Mark Ferguson

Being the biggest party but falling short of a majority might not get Ed Miliband into Downing Street. The Mail today suggests that the Lib Dems might pair up with the Tories in such a situation: Senior Liberal Democrats are plotting a second coalition with the Conservatives even if Labour wins more Commons seats in next year’s general election…Another senior MP said there was a strong possibility that the Tories could gain more votes than Labour, but fewer seats, while […]

Growth back to pre-crash levels – but a full recovery is still a long way off

By Conor Pope

Good news this morning from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), who confirm economic growth for the last quarter was 0.8% – bringing the UK economy back to pre-crash levels. The news has been met with all-round approval, with George Osborne proclaiming the GDP figures a “major milestone” on his path to recovery. But is it job done? Well, no. And Osborne’s use of “milestone” shows he knows it too. We’re a long way off yet. While these figures are […]

Labour’s plan to kill the “lazy Labour” narrative this summer

By Mark Ferguson

Last year the Labour leadership – and the Shadow Cabinet in particular – were accused of taking their foot off the gas over the summer recess. Both party and leadership have been clear for months that won’t be the case this year. It was mooted by Newsnight’s Allegra Stratton earlier this week that Labour’s summer offensive was about to be unveiled. Initially rumours swirled around Westminster that every single member of the Shadow Cabinet would be making a speech over […]

LabourList readers show that grassroots are upbeat going into summer break

Grassroots Labour supporters are in high spirits, if this week’s LabourList survey is anything to go by. We asked readers if they liked what they had heard about last weekend’s National Policy Forum (NPF) conference in Milton Keynes – and almost 60% of people said yes. Just over 20% of people were unhappy with how the NPF had gone, while just under 20% were not sure. Miliband’s meeting with Obama on Monday told a similar story: a little over 70% of respondents […]

The tennis match that reveals the Tories’ re-election strategy

By Jon Trickett

David Cameron’s fundraising takes place in secretive opulence amongst the world’s super rich. This week we saw the extent of his reliance of those who operate in a different world to hardworking families concerned with paying their bills. The Conservative Party has taken a reported £1 million from Russian backers since David Cameron has been leader.  In 2008 David Cameron said, ‘Russian armies can’t march into other countries while Russian shoppers carry on marching into Selfridges’, and yet as Russian […]