LabourList readers want to ban zero hours

No time for zero hours

Last week saw Ed Miliband make an announcement about cracking down on zero hour contracts. He stopped short of banning them, saying he recognised that for some they offered much-needed flexibility, but noted that they were open to abuse and it was that he was aiming to address.

We asked you what your preferred approach would be. While a number of people so low it is statistically basically zero felt that zero hours contracts should be left as they are, 44% of those surveyed backed Miliband’s aim to keep them while stopping their abuse. However, almost 55% said they would have liked to have seen a blanket ban.

Is this bad news for Miliband? Probably not. While yes, a majority of readers would like to see a more radical proposal, the results show that the grassroots are split, so he was never going to please everybody. What’s important is that 99% think there needs to be action on the issue, and that’s exactly what he’d be delivering.

George, we’re just not that into you

No, not the perennially unloved Chancellor of the Exchequer. Following on from the St. George’s Day special on LabourList last Wednesday, we wanted to know whether you celebrated the saint’s feast day.

The results were fairly straightforward. 86% did not celebrate St. George’s Day, 14% did. Obviously, many of our readers come from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where it would be a bit strange if people started waving England flags once a year, but it seems very likely that not celebrating it would have had a comfortable victory even if we discounted those votes.

Axelnod or Axelnot?

We also wanted to test the water on Labour’s new big name signing, former Clinton and Obama adviser David Axelrod, who will be consulted on election strategy in the run-up to 2015. More people were sceptical of his appointment (17%) than celebrated St. George’s Day, but a hefty 58% were firmly behind the move.

Meanwhile, 25% didn’t have a strong opinion on the matter. This is hardly surprising. How many of us had honestly heard of him before he made the front pages two weeks ago? Even among political anoraks, encyclopaedic knowledge of US-based political consultants is hardly a given.

Local MPs for local people

A Demos report has found that Labour have more local MPs than any other party. But do people care if their MP is local? 67% of you do, while for 31% of you it’s just not important.

Thanks to the 949 people who took part in this week’s LabourList survey. Next week’s will go up on bank holiday Monday!