The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

New poll puts Labour ahead for first time since 2007

A major psychological boost for Ed Miliband.

By George Eaton Published 28 September 2010 9:52

Ed Miliband's big day has got off to a good start, with a poll putting Labour ahead of the Tories for the first time since the election that never was in 2007. The latest daily YouGov poll has Labour up two to 40 per cent, the Tories unchanged on 39 per cent and the Lib Dems down from a post-conference high of 15 per cent to 12. If repeated at the election on a uniform swing, the latest figures would give Labour a majority of 10 seats.

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All political parties usually receive a poll bounce from their conference and, indeed, when a new leader takes over. But this is still a major psychological boost for the party and Miliband. It highlights why the right are entirely wrong to dismiss Miliband as Labour's William Hague or even Iain Duncan Smith. It took three and a half years and the fuel strike for a poll to put Hague's Conservatives ahead. We'll get a better idea after today's speech of the Miliband dividend Labour can expect to receive.

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Tags: Ed Miliband Polls Guide

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6 comments

Tue, 2010-09-28 17:44 — ACMJ

What Ed Miliband has to do is to convince the ones who are not sure , a s they did not hear of him until he stood for the leadership .
Of course the "Ed the Red" being the darling of the Union's is pretty lame Tory "new Politics" ploy . Why is it lame you may ask? It is so , due to a tiny little insignificant fact , which is that during the 1994 Labour leadership elections , "Red Tony" polled 52% of the union vote , and still made it to number 10 downing street by a landslide .
Perhaps because Tony Blair was so much in the pocket of the unions , that he won so many votes from them ? What Ed has to make sure is that he does com e over as being sincere , and also follows up on the sincerity by his actions , and not try and imitate Nick Clegg , as if he does , he will be trusted as much as Nick Clegg is by the voters .

Tue, 2010-09-28 09:59 — Jamie Pullman (not verified)

The trouble with that comparison, is that Hague was up against a massively popular Blair, while Labour are currently up against a Tory party that didn't even get an overall majority.

Tue, 2010-09-28 10:03 — jie4v7i14

And not even five months from the last GE - not bad going. And the only way is up it seems.

And more uncomfortably shuffling in seats for the LibDems.

Tue, 2010-09-28 12:18 — Mr Hell (not verified)

Tory attempts to portray Milliband as Red Ed will be as successful as the American Right's screaming about Obama's "socialism" before he was elected.

Fri, 2010-10-01 15:29 — trurojoe (not verified)

Don't Labour people get it? It was your obsession with polls that led to such chronic failure in government. I'd rather be in a party that delivers progressive change for Britain than one that obsesses with poll ratings and ends up delivering the widest wealth gap since the Depression.

Tue, 2010-09-28 14:28 — bobjay (not verified)

Great news about Red Ed - never had a proper job, elected by dinosaur unions, from family of immigrant marxists, all will ensure that Labour will be out of power for 2 maybe 3 elections and the Con/Libs can get on with sorting out the socialist mess they left.