Clamp down on second jobs and nationalise railways, say LabourList readers

At the start of this week, allegations of a ‘cash-for-access’ scandal were levelled at Jack Straw MP and Sir Malcolm Rifkind MP. Following this, Ed Miliband reiterated his pledge that if Labour win in May, MPs of the party would be banned from taking up paid directorship and consultancy positions.

Miliband went on to ask Cameron if he would support a bill to do the same for MPs across all parties. Labour used their Opposition Day in the Commons on Wednesday to call a vote on this – however, they lost by 287 to 219 votes.

While it failed in Parliament, the move has big support among LabourList readers. 47% said they would like to see directorships and consultancy work banned for MPs, while 42% went further, saying they would prefer a blanket ban for all MPs’ second jobs.

The railways are always a contentious topic among the public. Last week, Michael Dugher, Shadow Transport Secretary, waded into the public v private ownership debate, saying he wanted more public control of the railways. However, he was careful not to lobby for full renationalisation, which is not Labour’s policy (instead the party are arguing for allowing public companies to big on rail franchises)

Much as with Miliband’s approach to MPs’ second jobs, a huge majority of LabourList readers (95%) agree with I agree with Dugher’s comment. Of those, 55% want complete renationalisation of the railways, suggesting that for them, Labour’s policy offer on the railways doesn’t go far enough.

At 4%, only a small proportion don’t agree with Dugher, and 1% don’t know.

Finally, we put Ed Miliband in the spotlight. We asked how LabourList readers thought he was performing as Labour leader. The results were:

 Very good, 19%, Good 35%, Ok 30%, Poor 9%, Very poor 6%, Don’t know 0.6%

This is a slight rise in support for Miliband since we last asked this question a month ago. Then, 49% opted for very good or good, while that number is now at 54%. Then, one in five readers judged his leadership as poor or very poor, whereas that has now dropped to 15%.

Perhaps, as the election draws nearer, and greater detail is added to Labour’s offer to the British public, Labour supporters are becoming more convinced of the prospect of Ed Miliband as Prime Minister – especially as, with fewer than 10 weeks until polling day, the Tories have yet to register a solid lead.

1,052 people voted in this week’s survey. Thanks to everyone who took part.