labour

Brown bows out-what is his legacy?

| Readers 377

Former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has announced today he is stepping down at the next election. He was the leader that steered us through the financial crisis, borrowed and spent money like there was no tomorrow. Yet to most people he was completely unsuited for the job of Prime Minister. Indeed, when articles like this from the Independent “Six things Gordon Brown did that weren’t a complete disaster” are on the front pages you have to wonder how his time …

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Sinn Fein top of the polls: Rumours of their demise greatly exaggerated?

| Readers 3112

Latest polls in the South will be giving Sinn Fein reason to raise a glass tonight as they have suffered one of the biggest crises since 2004. Here is the latest Millward/Brown Poll which will appear in tomorrows Sunday Independent Fine Gael -22% Fianna Fáil – 20% Sinn Féin -26% Labour-7pc, Independent-23% I will pose this question to the Sluggerverse what is the secret of their succcess? David McCannDavid McCann holds a PhD in North-South relations from University of Ulster. You …

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SNP surge dominates Scottish Labour

| Readers 665

As the race for the Scottish leadership gets underway two new polls indicate that the SNP could take 20 plus from Labour at next years Westminster election basically imploding Miliband’s 35% strategy. (This is to basically win off the back of disaffected Lib Dems). The latest polls put the SNP in a commanding lead over Labour IPSOS/MORI SNP on 52% Labour on just 23%, the Scottish Conservatives on 10% Liberal Democrats and Scottish Greens both on 6%. YouGov SNP-43% Labour-27% …

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Latest SBP/REDC poll in the South-Sinn Fein still second

| Readers 2066

The first opinion poll taken in the South since the BBC Spotlight programme was conducted on Monday-Wednesday of the past week. Here are the results Fine Gael-26% (-2) Sinn Fein-20% (-3%) Fianna Fail-18% (nc) Labour-8% (nc) Inds/Oths-28% (+5) Overall, Sinn Fein will be happy with this poll as in other bad times for the party such as the Northern Bank robbery and the McCartney murder, the party’s support halved in just 9 weeks. This 3% drop is more stable and …

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Ivan Lewis (shadow SoS) sets up Heenan-Anderson commission to address worklessness & intergenerational poverty

| Readers 816

English MPs with an interest in Northern Ireland are coming along like buses today. Labour MP and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Ivan Lewis delivered a speech to the Labour party conference in Manchester this afternoon. He joked that the city was home “to three institutions in serious decline … the Tory party, the Lib Dems and Manchester United.” When people tell you politics can’t change anything, politicians don’t make a difference, give them a two word answer, …

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.@BlairJenkinsYes : How would an independent Scotland succeed? #indyref

| Readers 572

With the Scottish referendum just one week away, we now have a post from the Yes side of the argument. Writing exclusively for Slugger O’Toole, Yes Chief Executive, Blair Jenkins tells us why people should vote Yes next Thursday. In just a few days’ time, the people of Scotland have the opportunity to change their destiny. With just the tick of a box on September 18, we can provide ourselves and our children with a brighter, more positive and prosperous …

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#IndyRef Elephant Trap #1: Falling into the role of ‘self hating Scot’…

| Readers 1077

I’ve a couple of instances which show some of the weaknesses in the way the debate over Scottish independence is configured for each side/ This one shows the psychology of adopting a Yes position rather than a No to the the referendum question. As a former Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (which the SNP has promised Scotland will join after independence) George Robertson is well placed to argue why Scotland could be a stronger actor within the …

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John McTernan: For Labour hope needs to beat fear

| Readers 904

Next up in our 2015 general election series is former advisor John McTernan on what Labour needs to do to win next year.   There is no real secret to winning elections. Be united, have popular ideas and connect to the public. As Ronald Reagan used to say, ‘It’s not easy, but it is simple.’   Against the odds, Ed Miliband has achieved the first, and done it effortlessly. After a lengthy and divisive leadership campaign – which he won …

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#EP14 campaign squeezing the Labour vote in Britain?

| Readers 48

Mike Smithson at PoliticalBetting…  My reading is that EdM and his team are paying the price for not having a clear message for the Euro elections. Their campaign has almost totally avoided any mention of the EU unlike the other three parties competing for votes which each have specific and relevant positions. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest …

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Labour in meltdown mode

| Readers 69

Who needs negative campaigning when you have the Labour party? While opinion polling seems to have been incessant in the south since the last election, the latest Millward Brown poll published by the Irish Independent over the weekend has brought more grim reading for Labour. But not only does the party now seem to be rooted in single digits (an eye-watering 6% in the latest poll), this morning the fallout has added a new dimension with calls for the resignation of party …

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Scotland Essays: The pro-Union cause has four months to unite, learn identity politics and make a new devolution pact now!

| Readers 82

The difference between before and after the Scottish referendum is as fundamental and unknowable as the black hole between life and death. Yet the fate of the Union may depend on what people believe now about what may happen then, in that currently unknowable state.  With the polls narrowing near the point of cross over, London- based   politicians and commentators are at last stirring themselves, the Conservative commentator and ex-MP Matthew Parris in the Times (£) being the latest in assuming a torrid fall-out from …

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Women candidates and Political Parties in the 2014 Republic of Ireland local elections by Claire McGing

| Readers 182

Claire McGing currently lectures political geography at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. She has published research nationally and internationally on gender in Irish politics, north and south. She can be contacted at [email protected]. Local elections are due to be held in the Republic of Ireland on Friday, May 23rd. Compared to the last contest in 2009 the electoral landscape is rather different: 774 town and borough council positions have been abolished and the number of county/city councillors has risen …

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Scotland Essay: Why the No side should be looking up in Scotland…

| Readers 530

By John McTernan The most important three words in any campaign are not ‘Vote For Me’, but ‘Hold Your Nerve’. The independence campaign has reached what Sir Alex Ferguson used to call ‘squeaky-bum time’. The polls are closing – we are told. The No campaign needs to be positive – opine commentators. Scotland is so different, so progressive – pant assorted lefties breathlessly. Wrong, wrong and wrong. Now is the time for the campaign against separation to hold its nerve. …

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Milliband removes EU referendum from Labour’s agenda…

| Readers 7

Shrewd argument from Lord Ashcroft on Milliband’s speech on not calling an EU referendum: My polling has found that Tory voters are twice as likely as Labour voters, and UKIP voters three times as likely, to say that defending Britain’s interests in Europe is one of the most important issues facing the country. Among the reservations that potential Labour voters have about the party – economic competence, opposition to welfare reform, the leader himself – opposition to an EU referendum …

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Ivan Lewis on the OTR Letters

| Readers 67

In today’s Belfast Telegraph, Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, Ivan Lewis attempts to straddle the line between preserving the Labour legacy of peace here and distancing himself from Blair and Peter Hain. In his opening paragraphs Lewis attempts to chart a middle course saying Some have suggested the UK Government and more specifically my party should recant for the introduction of the so called “on the run” administrative scheme. I cannot accept this despite the understandable anger some have expressed. It would …

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Fine Gael to consider contesting elections in the North #fgaf14

| Readers 510

Interesting development from the Fine Gael Ard Fheis this weekend as the party’s delegates have passed a motion to set up a working group to consider the possibility of contesting elections in the North. The motion that was passed only states contesting elections at Local, European and Assembly elections but it will be interesting to see if this group has legs and goes somewhere. To be honest, I wasn’t even aware that this issue was on the radar for the …

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Sinn Fein and the south-where do they go from here? #SFAF

| Readers 112

In September, I wrote a post about the rise of Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland not being all that it seemed. So, I thought with the party’s Ard Fheis being this weekend I would take a quick scan of the party’s electoral performance in the Irish Republic. (There are no in-depth databases on Irish elections as the main website is currently down so bits of this are patchy) While I was critical of the party’s rise being based on fundamentally …

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Ivan Lewis (shadow SoS) on his role, perceived disengagement of UK government & his Haass proposal for a ‘peace’ public holiday

| Readers 66

Ivan Lewis MP is now six weeks into his new job as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. But what does he make of the place? Is he alone in thinking that the UK government has disengaged from NI? And is he serious about his Haass submission proposal of a public holiday to celebrate the peace process? I caught up with him on Saturday morning at the DUP conference, hours after he had released Labour’s submission to the Haass …

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#Seanref and Northern nationalism’s missed opportunity.

| Readers 34

Today voters in the Irish Republic will head to the polls to decide whether to abolish their second chamber, the Seanad. This issue has dominated political debate in Dublin. The Fine Gael/Labour coalition, in alliance with Sinn Fein, has come out for abolishing Ireland’s second chamber. While the main opposition party, Fianna Fáil have come out against abolition. However, as this debate has been going on south of the border, people in Northern Ireland, particularly nationalists seem to have a …

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Wither the SDLP-Have they a future?

| Readers 622

Conall McDevitt’s resignation from the assembly this week has provoked some debate about the future direction of the SDLP. With this in mind, I thought I would take this issue head on and ask the crucial question do the SDLP even have a future? When you take a look at the figures of every assembly election since 1998, you can sum up the SDLP’s fortunes in one word; decline. In 1998, the party took more first preference votes than any …

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