There is little in this week's MORI poll for The Times [Political Attitudes in Great Britain for March 2001] which should discourage Tony Blair from calling the general election next week, should he wish to do so, for fear of the political effects. It is true that the public seems profoundly unimpressed with the government's handling of the Foot and Mouth crisis, and that opinion on this issue has deteriorated over the last week (69% were dissatisfied with the way the Government is handling the Foot and Mouth outbreak in the Times poll, conducted on 22-27 March, compared with 52% dissatisfied on 15-17 March when we polled for the Mail on Sunday [FOOT AND MOUTH POLL]). But this dissatisfaction has not fed through into any adverse change in voting intentions: Labour's share is 50%, as it was in January and February.
Q1 How would you vote if there were a General Election tomorrow?
[If undecided or refused at Q1]
Q2 Which party are you most inclined to support?
Base: 1,945
Should he or shouldn't he? Tony Blair still seems determined to call the election for 3 May, though he has yet to make any announcement; the public seem decidedly less enthusiastic. Nevertheless, MORI's poll for the Mail on Sunday [FOOT AND MOUTH POLL] suggested that few of those opposed to holding the election on 3 May feel that if the government were to do so it would make them less likely to vote Labour.
As we wait to discover whether the election will indeed be held on the apparently pre-ordained date of 3 May, or whether the ravages of Foot and Mouth disease will eventually force a postponement, a bit of electoral trivia in answer to a question that I was asked last week. Which is the most typical constituency in the country?
So now we know - or do we? The referendum on joining the Euro, according to some newspapers' interpretations of the Prime Minister's answer to a question in the Commons, will be held in the first two years of the next Parliament. That wasn't what he said.
Education and Employment Secretary David Blunkett said today that it was important for Government to strike a balance between local autonomy and Government intervention - particularly in school reform.
MORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 2,040 adults aged 18+ at 193 sampling points across Great Britain.
Fieldwork was conducted face-to-face on 1-5 February 2001.
Data are weighted to match the profile of the population.
Survey designed to test responses to the hypothesis presented at QLD1 and QLD2
Because this is a nationwide poll, it is not able to provide us with information for any individual constituency
