By Simon Benson, Public Affairs, London
You would not have thought it if you had watched it, but last night, TV history was made with the first of the televised election debates between prospective Chancellors – Alistair Darling MP (Labour), George Osborne MP (Conservatives) and Vince Cable MP (Liberal Democrats).
So who ‘won’? Immediate online reaction suggested it was a bore draw. There were no obvious gaffes from any of the panel and the strict format allowed them to answer questions quickly without pandering to the audience with the usual soundbites. However, as we…
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Darling’s Pre-election Budget
By Simon Benson, Public Affairs
The first shot of the election campaign was fired today by Chancellor Alistair Darling MP as he set out his Budget to secure Britain’s economic recovery.
One of the many problems recognised by the PM and his Chancellor recently has been that although more voters marginally trust Labour to navigate the country out of the recession (by 3% according to a recent Ch Four/YouGov poll), the same voters believe that in the longer term, the Conservatives would be best for Britain’s economy (a 2% lead over Labour).
Hence Chancellor Alistai…
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Public Affairs
By Simon Benson, Fleishman-Hillard Public Affairs
After a delay of three months, the Conservatives today finally launched their energy manifesto: ‘Rebuilding Security; Conservative Energy Policy for an Uncertain World’.
It reconfirms the Conservatives’ committments to new nuclear (number 6 on their list of 12), as well as Carbon Capture Storage (CCS), a reform to the Climate Change Levy and the ‘promotion’ of renewables.
In the paper, Conservative Leader David Cameron claims that Labour’s energy policy is ‘out of…
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Ah, the ubiquitous survey… According to a recent article in The Independent they are dumbing down the news agenda, but nevertheless, they remain – when used effectively – a powerful PR tool and can provide genuine news content that gives a great platform for a campaign message delivery.
So don’t dismiss surveys as redundant, but do take the time before you embark on finding out what the nation has to say, to consider some important factors.
What do you want to achieve?
Think about the headline you want to generate before you commission the survey and then the questions you need to ask to ach…
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By Richard Marsh, Healthcare Public Affairs
Two organisations published reports last week calling for a cross-party consensus in health and social care policy. Both should be prepared for disappointment, as Kevin Barron, who chairs the House of Commons Health Select Committee, conceded on Friday’s Today programme. Mr Barron’s committee had just released its report on social care, which notes that there is in fact a reasonable degree of agreement around the Government’s proposals, published in a green paper last July, for a “national care service”. All we have to do, argued Mr Barron,…
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