Labourhome - Stories by jag singh

[Blogs] Labour Grassroots Survey: June Results

2008-06-17T09:06:00-05:00

The results of Labourhome.org's June 2008 survey of nearly 400 Labour activists and supporters has produced some rather interesting results. In addition to the monthly tracker questions on the performance of Cabinet ministers and the level of motivation to campaign for the Party, we asked what the Leader of the Party needed to do to ensure the best possible result for Labour at the next election, and we also asked how much time activists and supporters would be prepared to give Gordon Brown to begin reversing Labour's fortunes, before wanting him to step aside.

Here's a summary of the results (full results are further below):

Our activists and supporters are a lot more motivated to campaign for Labour, right now. Based on scales of 1 to 10, in May 2008 we were at 3.58, whilst this latest survey (June 2008) reveals an upwards shift of 2.28 points, at 5.86 points.

When asked, "After Crewe, what must the Leader of the Party do to ensure the best possible result for Labour at the next election?" - the majority responded with these three choices:

Provide direction and leadership, delegating detail to ministers

Bolster Labour's core vote

Restore the Party's financial situation

When asked, "How much time would you be prepared to give Gordon Brown to begin reversing Labour's fortunes, before you would want him to step aside?"

More than a third of respondents said Gordon Brown should lead Labour into the next general election

(Click on the header row to sort)

Minister	Jun-08	May-08	Monthly Change
Prime Minister, Gordon Brown	3.93	2.69	1.24
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling	3.73	2.66	1.07
Foreign Secretary, David Miliband	6.02	4.35	1.67
Justice Secretary, Lord Chancellor Jack Straw	5.67	4.26	1.41
Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith	5.39	3.37	2.02
Defence/Scotland Secretary, Des Browne	4.26	3.02	1.24
Health Secretary, Alan Johnson	6.33	4.33	2
DEFRA Secretary, Hilary Benn	5.78	4.32	1.46
Int'l Development Secretary, Douglas Alexander	5.02	3.39	1.63
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Secretary, John Hutton	4.45	3.47	0.98
Deputy Leader and Minister for Women and Equality, Harriet Harman	4.53	3.26	1.27
Work/Pensions Secretary, James Purnell	4.98	3.53	1.45
Transport Secretary, Ruth Kelly	3.91	2.8	1.11
Communities and Local Government Secretary, Hazel Blears	4.9	3.25	1.65
Chief Whip, Geoff Hoon	4.58	3.04	1.54
Children, Schools and Families Secretary, Ed Balls	4.49	3.06	1.43
Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Ed Miliband	5.33	3.74	1.59
Northern Ireland Secretary, Shaun Woodward	4.38	3.13	1.25
Leader of the House of Lords, the Baroness Ashton of Upholland	4.53	3.24	1.29
Innovation, Universities and Skills Secretary, John Denham	5.71	3.92	1.79
Welsh Secretary, Paul Murphy	4.44	3.21	1.23
Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, Andy Burnham	5.38	3.61	1.77
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Secretary, Yvette Cooper	4.5	3.13	1.37
Average	4.88	3.43	1.45

How much time would you be prepared to give Gordon Brown to begin reversing Labour's fortunes, before you would want him to step aside?

37.60% - He should lead the party into the next general election
28% - He should be given until Party conference (September 2008) to turn things around
17.90% - He should resign now
16.50% - He should be given until the May 2009 elections (Europeean & Local Elections)

After Crewe, what must the Leader of the Party do to ensure the best possible result for Labour at the next election?

62.8% - Provide direction and leadership, delegating detail to ministers
61.50% - Bolster Labour's core vote
56.90% - Restore the Party's financial situation
40.40% - Fight to take back the centre ground and "Middle England"
30.30% - Pass rule changes at Annual Conference to make the Party more transparent and democratic
25.20% - Hold firm and ride out the headlines
14.20% - Ensure unity and loyalty from Labour MPs
5% - Address leaks from Number 10 and the Cabinet
3.7% - Telephone more random voters

[Blogs] Labour Grassroots Survey: June 2008

2008-06-05T05:55:30-05:00

We introduced a survey last month that successfully captured the mood of Labour's grassroots. Senior Labour figures have mentioned to us that they found the results intriguing and useful - and so we've now launched another one for June.

Here's the link for this month's grassroots survey - please do pass the link on to all the Labour supporters you know! We'll close the survey on June 15th, and announce the results on the 16th.

Labour Grassroots Survey: June 2008

[Blogs] Event in North West - Where does power really lie?

2008-05-28T08:53:15-05:00

Greater Manchester Fabians, a group that we like and who tend to organise good events, have organised a session called Unlocking Democracy - How far too much power is locked up in the hands of far too few people and what we can do about it.

Its on Thursday 5th June 2008 in Manchester City Centre and more details are here.

[Blogs] Tories lose private data on 8,500 C&N voters

2008-05-21T16:14:27-05:00

It's just been reported that the Conservatives in Crewe & Nantwich sent data to several media outlets which contained private and confidential data on voters within the constituency. The voting intentions, MOSAIC (socio-economic profiles), names, addresses and telephone numbers of more than 8000 voters contained in three Excel spreadsheets was sent to Manx Radio.

This looks to be a major breach of data protection laws. The Tories have admitted to this, but many questions still remain unanswered. We still do not know which part of the constituency the data related to, nor do we know if it was intentionally released.

It is still unclear if David Cameron will be making an apology to the people of Crewe & Nantwich.

The The BBC learned that the files were e-mailed around lunchtime on Wednesday (today). The Information Commissioner has launched an investigation, saying that the mishandling of data by the Tories was an issue that raised "serious concern."

[Blogs] Labour grassroots survey

2008-05-06T10:01:18-05:00

The Prime Minister has promised to listen more - take part in our survey and we'll make sure the party's leadership is presented with the results. Pass the link on to all Labour supporters you know!

Labour Grassroots Survey - May 2008

Here's the link to the results: http://www.labourhome.org/story/2008/5/14/103031/794

[Blogs] Climate change: Help us persuade MPs

2008-03-04T14:35:23-05:00

We're proudly backing a campaign to get MPs to vote for an 80% cut in emissions. This is an online campaign being run to persuade the Government to set a binding target of an 80% cut in Britain's CO2 emissions by 2050, rather than the 60% that is currently contained in the Climate Change Bill. Later in the year MPs will be able to vote on whether to replace the 60% target with a tougher 80% target, which is supported by environmental groups and leading scientists.

This group has two aims:

(1) to show the Government the strength of support for an 80% CO2 target; to demonstrate your support please take a few seconds to sign up to this Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/pages/Climate-Change-60-cut-is-not-enough/11917166969

(2) to encourage people across Britain to contact their local MP and report back to the group every time an MP signs up to support the 80% target if there is a vote in the House of Commons.

By joining the group you are helping to show the strength of support for the target and encouraging MPs to sign up. Indeed Hilary Benn has asked the Committee on Climate Change to look at this and is persuadable, so there's a real chance to make a difference here!

To contact your MP, email them through http://www.upmystreet.com/commons/l/. Please encourage all your friends to join this group - together we can make a difference to the future of the planet!

[Blogs] Cameron Flip-Flops on the Conway Controvery

2008-01-29T08:32:51-05:00

David Cameron has just announced that he's withdrawing the Conservative Whip from Derek Conway, hours after enduring a massive onslaught of criticism from the general public and his own grassroots and only hours after his initial reaction on the matter included support for Derek Conway.

David Davis is said to have been furious after Cameron's U-turn. Could this have been the end of Dave, or would it have been dealt swiftly by Lord Ashcroft? Cameron's latest statement came just hours after we learned that Conway's eldest son was also possibly siphoning taxpayers funds to subsidise his higher education costs. The internal dynamics of team Cameron have also been fractured, as there had been talk of various grassroots organisations preparing to overtly lobby Cameron on the issue.