Feedback

The Live Wire

  • Next Left | Cameron's confusions over vested interests

    • source icon
    • 11:00
  • Martin Bright | Tony Judt's Manifesto for the Left

    • source icon
    • 10:58
  • Iain Martin | WSJ: Clegg would demand Clarke as Chancellor in Tory coalition

    • source icon
    • 10:29
  • Tim Montgomerie | Is this Cameron's big new message: anti-bank, anti-union, anti all vested intere...

  • Ed miliband hints at sigificant increases in the minimum wage.(this is shaping u...

    • source icon
    • 10:24
  • Iain Roberts | Four Lib Dem MPs censured over second home allowances

    • source icon
    • 10:20
  • Iain Dale | Dangers of the PM's Tea Party

    • source icon
    • 10:19
  • Charlie Beckett | "Ashcroft lawyers force BBC to shelve film" Indy http://is.gd/aQ0li Of course, i...

    • source icon
    • 10:15
  • Tom Harris MP | Fur coat, nae knickers

    • source icon
    • 10:06
  • Keith Kahn-Harris | JNews: a potential voice for peace | Keith Kahn-Harris

    • source icon
    • 10:00
  • Is there a sinister Labour plot to stop British troops voting in the election?

    • source icon
    • 09:37
  • Guido Fawkes | Saturday Seven Up

    • source icon
    • 09:32
  • lucy manning | Cameron on bank levy might not be popular in city but fair and necessary

    • source icon
    • 09:23
  • Charlie Whelan | @lucymanning Oh dear. Cam lost plot going on about Thatch. What happened to chan...

    • source icon
    • 09:20
  • lucy manning | Cameron says pm wouldnt support ba workers crossing picket lines cos unite bankr...

    • source icon
    • 09:16
  • Archbishop Cranmer | Spring of discontent

    • source icon
    • 09:16
  • Robert Giddings | The university challenge: how to meet it

    • source icon
    • 09:15
  • LFAT | Where is the anger and disgust at Tony Blair’s financial dealings?

    • source icon
    • 09:15
  • John Street | Objectively wrong

    • source icon
    • 09:15
  • lucy manning | Early start for david cameron in putney . .his message so far margaret thatcher ...

    • source icon
    • 09:13
  • Tim Montgomerie | New Tory poster: 'Brown is doing sweet BA' about Unite http://is.gd/aPU15

  • Guest | Lib Dem tax policy: Our response to your responses

    • source icon
    • 09:00
  • Next Left | Miliband's manifesto to defend universalism

    • source icon
    • 09:00
  • Henry Macrory | "I simply will not let a Lab govt go back to the past, cave into the unions or b...

    • source icon
    • 08:55
  • Charlie Whelan | Mail on Sunday morning update. If the stringer is still outside my Highland home...

    • source icon
    • 08:50
  • David Crookes | Cleaning up the Augean stables with a feather-duster

    • source icon
    • 08:49
  • Neil Robertson | Why I’m not voting at the next election

    • source icon
    • 08:00
  • ConservativeHome | David Cameron to invoke the spirit of Thatcher in challenging the vested interes...

    • source icon
    • 07:24
  • Ashcroft has poured £250,000 into Pendle trying to unseat Gordon Prentice whos...

    • source icon
    • 07:21
  • John Redwood | Labour governments end in economic chaos

    • source icon
    • 07:13
  • David Herdson | Will this ground Labour’s come-back hopes?

    • source icon
    • 06:35
  • Martin Rowson | Martin Rowson: Cameron invokes Thatcher spirit

    • source icon
    • 00:39
  • Richard | Somebody has to be wrong

    • source icon
    • 00:34
  • Tories way out in front on Facebook as Lib Dems push Labour into 3rd: http://bit...

  • Boateng, Milburn, Smith | Letter to George Osborne

    • source icon
    • 22:02
  • Letter to Chris Grayling

    • source icon
    • 22:01
  • Letter to Caroline Spelman

    • source icon
    • 22:00
  • Local police showed me online how easy it is to buy meow meow in seconds from UK...

    • source icon
    • 21:57
  • Amazing response to Mail story on prosecuting underage sex. Imagine what it woul...

    • source icon
    • 21:50
  • Norfolk Blogger | Are you raising the level of debate Iain ?

    • source icon
    • 21:09
  • Southern Europe was never meant to join the euro

    • source icon
    • 21:05
  • Denis MacShane | W Hague says on Any Questions that Ashcroft donates "just" 1% of Tory income. As...

    • source icon
    • 21:01
  • Malcolm Tucker | Malcolm Tucker's election briefing

    • source icon
    • 21:00
  • Oliver Kamm | The Times and the Pope

    • source icon
    • 20:34
  • Mark Kleinman | Exclusive: Cadbury Bosses Lose Out In Kraft Shake-Up

    • source icon
    • 20:33
  • Lynsey Hanley | The cultured classes | Lynsey Hanley

    • source icon
    • 20:30
  • David Leigh | To prevent future Ashcrofts, Britain should name its non-doms | David Leigh

    • source icon
    • 20:00
  • Mike Smithson | What happens if there is no GREEN/UKIP/BNP standing?

    • source icon
    • 19:59
  • John Lanchester | These ingeniously reckless Repo men must be stopped | John Lanchester

    • source icon
    • 19:30
  • Telegraph Opinion | Will Unite's socialists become Cameron's stormtroopers?

    • source icon
    • 19:27
  • Ed Balls | Driving into Leeds for Any Questions at the Grand Theatre with William Hague, Si...

    • source icon
    • 19:27
  • Michael Crick | A tale of two unions

    • source icon
    • 19:24
  • Telegraph Opinion | Radio 4 should not change its tune

    • source icon
    • 19:20
  • Robert Peston | Clashing views on pay at the top of Barclays

    • source icon
    • 19:11
  • The left are spinning very hard about something in this weekends tabloids. I sen...

    • source icon
    • 19:02
  • Kevin Maguire | Nasty feeling Cons and allies in Right-wing meeja will scapegoat unions for econ...

    • source icon
    • 18:38
  • Telegraph Opinion | Bad Laws: Labour has clowned around with our freedom

    • source icon
    • 18:33
  • ADMIN USE ONLY (BBC News) | The battle for Stoke-on-Trent Central

    • source icon
    • 18:29
  • Fraser Nelson | Why Cameron must never say "deficit".

    • source icon
    • 18:26
  • Toby Young | Best week of the election campaign for the Tories — so far

    • source icon
    • 18:18
  • Martha's week

    • source icon
    • 18:07
  • ConservativeHome | Lord Pearson tells UKIP he wants his party to stand down candidates in "seven or...

    • source icon
    • 18:04
  • Guest | The whole country benefits from Union Learning Fund

    • source icon
    • 17:53
  • James Forsyth | These strikes are a gift to the Tories

    • source icon
    • 17:43
  • Benedict Brogan | Are the Tories saying too much?

    • source icon
    • 17:35
  • Ed Balls | Yes - schools have powers to confiscayte and not return RT @andrewduffell: Is th...

    • source icon
    • 17:21

Latest from The Green Box

Today's Storys

Added05:32 Last updated08:49

Pope Benedict is set to outline his plan for dealing with the child abuse scandal that has badly damaged the Catholic church in Ireland.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Added05:14 Last updated11:00

Passengers travelling with British Airways face three days of delays and cancellation as cabin crew go on strike in protest at staff cuts. David Cameron accused Gordon Brown of caving in to vested interests in a speech later today attacking the Labour government for its close ties to the Unite union.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Added05:17 Last updated10:31

David Cameron announced in a speech today that he favours a tax on the banks, even without the support of other countries. The FT reports that Alistair Darling will use the Budget to give detailed backing to a global bank levy.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Added05:47 Last updated06:00

Gordon Brown is set to outline plans that will give everyone in the country a personalised webpage for accessing government services. The scheme aims to save the government billions of pounds.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Added05:37 Last updated10:24

The Labour Party will make the creation of a people's bank a centrepiece of their election manifeston and general campaign according to Ed Miliband.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Added06:41 Last updated10:25

Alex Salmond is expected to disclose plans at his party conference today to jointly campaign with Plaid Cymru in the event of a hung parliament.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Added07:13 Last updated07:55

The Budget is expected to include a freeze of fuel duty and announce extra help for the unemployed, according to reports.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Added05:28 Last updated07:32

Talks will be held next week aimed at averting a strike by railway signal workers. Hopes are being raised that the strike action could be avoided.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Latest

Added11:01 Last updated10:29

Nick Clegg will demand he becomes home secretary, Ken Clarke becomes chancellor and Lord Ashdown is made defence secretary as the price of a coalition with the Tories if there is a hung parliament, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Added09:07 Last updated10:21

Foreign Secretary David Milliband has issued a message to mark the Iranian New Year, saying it was a 'legitimate matter of international concern" that Iranians were not free to express their own aspirations.

Selected Sources

View all sources

New this morning

Added06:32 Last updated10:06

Edinburgh university has been accused of racism after it said it would favor applications from people living in Scotland and the north of England for its most popular courses.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Added06:44 Last updated09:03

President Obama yesterday urged members of congress to head the call of history and pass the $940 billion health care reform bill.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Added05:51 Last updated05:51

The Labour Party will have to pay out £3m in interest over the next parliament to businessmen who bankrolled the 2005 election campaign, and up to £8.9m in outstanding loans by 2015.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Added06:24 Last updated06:56

The deadliest period of the war in Afghanistan has produced an unprecedented roll call of almost 150 awards for exceptional gallantry and leadership.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Added06:42 Last updated08:00

The United Kingdom Independence Party will make a five freeze on immigration the centrepiece of their general election campaign.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Added06:55 Last updated09:15

Gordon Brown is being urged to look into Tony Blair's ties to foreign businesses after the former prime ministers ties to a South Korean oil firm were published.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Added05:56 Last updated07:52

The quartet powers of the US, EU, UN and Russia have condemned the latest plans by Israel to build new settlements in the disputed area of East Jerusalem.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Added06:34 Last updated04:47

A photographer, Simon Roberts, has been commissioned by the Speaker's Advisory Committee on Works of Art to document campaigning activity in the run up to polling day.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Added06:36 Last updated06:36

A leading professor is to highlight the dangers of first cousins marrying with a warning that they are putting their childrens lives at risk of genetic defects.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Added06:50 Last updated06:50

Gordon Brown is preparing to attend an international summit in Washington that will take place during the general election campaign in the hopes that a good performance there will boost the Labour Party campaign.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Added07:28 Last updated07:53

The president of Barclays bank Bob Diamond could recieve a bonus package worth £60 million pounds with his two top lieutenants set to share a bonus of £40 million pounds. The bank reported a large profit last year.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Added07:33 Last updated07:33

The Daily Mail reports that households will spend on average an extra £350 on essential bills in the next 12 months.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Added07:57 Last updated07:58

America's most well known soldier, General David Petraeus is being tipped as a potential Republican candidate in the 2012 presidential election.

Selected Sources

View all sources

MSM Catching up

Added05:23 Last updated06:04

Another parliamentarian may face prosecution after police handed a file relating to alleged expenses abuse to prosecutors. Meanwhile, four Lib Dem MPs were told to repay money after a Commons probe found they broke rules over payments relating to second home allowances.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Added07:41 Last updated07:43

The Scottish Labour MP Anne Moffet has been deselected by her local party members after complaints about her style of work.

Selected Sources

View all sources

Added06:03 Last updated06:17

The Conservatives' gave a boost to the UK's nuclear power industry yesterday when the party pledged to introduce a tax on carbon powered power stations.

Selected Sources

View all sources

RSS PoliticsHome Polls

PoliticsHome Polls

Public opinion today

Dramatic swing towards early election

A public consensus in favour of an immediate general election is rapidly developing

There has been a dramatic shift in public opinion towards holding an immediate general election following revelations about MPs expenses, the latest PoliticsHome research reveals. 

In just three weeks the trend has switched from a slight preference for a 2010 election, to voters being clearly in favour of a 2009 poll.

PoliticsHome is the only organisation to have conducted corresponding polls, three weeks apart, asking the public when they would prefer a general election.

Our results show forty eight percent of voters would now prefer an election as soon as possible, confirming the findings of a recent ITN/Populus poll which suggested that around half the electorate now favour an early election. 

This represents an increase in fourteen percent from our previous election date poll in late April. Only twenty six percent currently favour an election in Spring 2010, down from the thirty five percent who chose that date last month. The least popular date remains Autumn 2009.

The swing in favour of an election in June 2009 has taken place among supporters of all political parties. The latest results show most Conservative, Liberal Democrat and non-aligned supporters would like to cast their vote as soon as possible.

Only Labour party supporters favour a date in the Spring of next year, and the number with this preference is down eleven percent from the last survey, from sixty four per cent to fifty three per cent.

The greatest swing in favour of a June 2009 General Election was registered by non-aligned voters, a fifty two per cent majority of whom would now prefer this date.

PoliticsHome interviewed 1,197 adults by email between 28 - 29 April 2009 and 1,225 adults by email between 19 - 20 May 2009. Results are weighted by party ID to reflect the UK.

Leave a comment...

M Rees

Even when the whole country want an early general election Herr Brown is his bunker will still deny he has lost the argument, simply because long ago this man with a moral compass lost the plot

Duyfken
  • 12:09 |
  • 22 May 2009
  • 0

Surely June is not feasible or realistic. Presumably the months of July to September are ruled out because parliamentarians are enjoying their summer hols, so October seems the earliest practical time.  That would give breathing space for some measures of reform to be introduced in advance.

But I would plump for an August election, just so we can enjoy the spectacle of the candidates having to work through their summer recess, as an act of penance.

J Leslie Smith
  • 21:32 |
  • 22 May 2009
  • 0

Over the past 24 hours watching Newsnight and reading both the Telegraph, watching BBC News and reading political blogs, the Government would be well advised, once a new speaker is in place, authorised by secret ballot, there will be no choice left for Gordon Brown but to call an early Election, possibly by Autumn.  This "peaceful Revolution" by the British People, supported by our own Media will not allow the political present class back, unless we have our say first..  ie  A General Election

G. R. Mansfield
  • 17:47 |
  • 23 May 2009
  • 0

My wife & I would both support a General Election as soon as possible.

Bill Holden

I think that the election is likely to be in the Autum, Summer is not good due to the holiday season, people are away on holiday or doing more important things than trying to rescue their country. If the election is held in October then the electorate will not turn out due to the rain and of course it gets dark early. I cannot see us staggering on till next spring therefore I think early September will be the best time.