At the last general election, Labour won 44.4% of the vote in Great Britain and that secured them 419 seats or an overall majority in the Commons of 179. In the vast majority of those constituencies where the result was marginal or even semi-marginal, the Conservatives were in second place; they won 31.4% of the vote across Great Britain, 13% behind Labour, and secured 165 seats.
Britain's business leaders regard skills shortages as the most important problem facing their company today, according to the findings of the 2000 MORI annual survey of Britain's Captains of Industry. For the first time ever, this issue is of more concern than regulation and competition with one in three - three times as many as in 1999 - mentioning it as their major preoccupation.
Richard Branson is considered more inspirational than the Pope according to a survey conducted by MORI on behalf of the BBC's Heaven and Earth Show, and 1 in 3 believe that they're going to heaven, but hardly anyone believes that they're going to hell.
Pulse Check
Pulse Check delivers key insights from Ipsos' Political Monitor, Political Pulse, and Public Services data, along with reactive polling, to help you navigate the evolving political landscape.
Most Londoners like their city, its diversity, cultural facilities and economic opportunities, according to the latest MORI research released today. But they remain concerned about congested streets, public transport, crime rates and the cost of living.
An editorial in the Daily Telegraph last month (5 December) suggested that MORI's polls in The Times systematically under-represent Conservative strength, and further that this is because they are conducted face-to-face rather than by telephone. The article cited several arguments in support of its case which were based on factual errors. We wrote to the paper correcting these errors, but it failed to publish our letter. It is not true as they alleged that face-to-face polls tend to find lower Conservative support than telephone polls. Nor is it true that MORI's polls find systematically lower Conservative support than those of the other polling companies. But since some of these misconceptions seem to be widespread, and the Telegraph was only echoing the wishful thinking which seems to be still entrenched in some corners of Conservative Central Office, it is perhaps time for a systematic review of the evidence, taking the whole of the year 2000 as our basis.
Four million TESSA investors don't know the rules on reinvesting their maturing TESSA funds and one fifth1 (21%) of the UK's five million TESSA holders don't know even when their fund matures, HSBC warned today.
