Mind the Gap

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This Times report is a tale of two gaps: one being the gap between rich and poor which Ed Miliband says matters to him; the other being the gap between those who thinks Ed's doing a good job and those who think he's not which stands at an eye-watering 55%.

The interesting thing is that of all the main parties contesting the 2015 general election Ed Miliband seems to be the only one who is less popular than the party he is leading into the battle for votes.

Scots rate Miliband lower than Cameron

David Cameron is reportedly more popular than Ed Miliband north of the border Russell Cheyne / Reuters

By Sam Coates - The Times

Ed Miliband is less popular than David Cameron in Scotland and barely beats him on personal ratings in Wales, voter surveys show.

A poll conducted for YouGov this week found only 18 per cent of people saying that the Labour leader was doing well north of the border and 73 per cent saying he was doing badly, a net score of minus 55. By contrast, 28 per cent of Scots said that Mr Cameron was doing well, with 66 per cent saying he was doing badly, giving him a net score of minus 38. Jim Murphy, Labour’s leader in Scotland, does a little better, with 30 per cent saying that he is doing well and 50 per cent saying badly, giving him an overall score of minus 20.

Only Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader, has an overall positive score, with 64 per cent of voters saying she is doing well and 27 per cent saying she is doing badly, giving her a score of plus 37.

A YouGov poll in December in Wales found Mr Cameron neck and neck with Mr Miliband. The Labour leader got an average score out of 10 of 3.6, while the Tory leader was on 3.5.

It comes at the end of a week of fluctuating fortunes for both main parties, with the Conservatives ahead in two YouGov polls. However, Populus yesterday put Labour on 33 per cent, the Conservatives on 31 per cent, Ukip on 16 per cent, the Lib Dems on 8 per cent and the Greens on 5 per cent. The last YouGov poll of the week put Labour on 35 per cent, the Tories on 31 per cent, Ukip on 15 per cent and the Lib Dems on 6 per cent.

The five-day poll of polls for May 2015.com puts Labour on 34 per cent, the Tories on 33, Ukip on 15, the Lib Dems on 7 and the Greens on 6.

A Populus “future MP panel” for the Financial Times found that 26 per cent of Tory respondents thought that Theresa May, the home secretary, would be the next party leader.

Populus asked Labour MPs and candidates about their next leader and found Andy Burnham, shadow health secretary, in pole position on 25 per cent.

Yesterday Mr Miliband insisted that he had the strength of character to be prime minister. “I don’t think decency is a weakness,” he said. In an echo of Tony Blair’s 1997 description of himself as “a pretty straight kind of guy”, Mr Miliband indicated he thinks of himself as “a decent guy who does things his own way”.

However, he distanced himself from New Labour on inequality. Speaking about the gap between rich and poor, he said: “It was more with New Labour that as long as the people at the bottom are doing OK, does the gap matter? But the gap absolutely matters to me.”

In a Guardian interview, he admitted his regret at forgetting a crucial passage in his conference speech that dealt with the deficit. He said: “Quite rightly I kicked myself. But I’m pretty resilient.”

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