7 September 2016
Much of the debate about what Brexit might mean in practice has focused on the difficulties the UK might face in attempting to remain a remember of EU single market in respect of goods and services while insisting on being able to impose restrictions on freedom of movement, that is the right of EU citizens […]
20 June 2016
It is often said that what goes down must come back up again. We thus perhaps should not be surprised that, after a sharp decline in support for Remain during the course of last week, four polls conducted over the weekend should have reported some recovery in its position. Even so, that will not stop […]
18 June 2016
On Thursday morning journalists and politicians were avidly discussing the apparent implications of two more opinion polls released within hours of each other. Yet no sooner had they begun to digest their results and the political world – and many ordinary citizens – were shocked by the murder of the Labour MP, Jo Cox, on […]
12 June 2016
Not for the first time in recent weeks, a poll has made waves amongst commentators and the markets. The latest example came from ORB in an internet poll that appeared in Saturday’s Independent. Its headline figures were Leave 55%, Remain 45%. Although the Leave tally in the poll was boosted by two points as a […]
3 June 2016
It is, in truth, becoming an all too familiar story. Both last week and the week before, many a media headline gave the impression that there had been a significant shift in the polls in favour of Remain. In both instances we argued here that a cooler, more systematic look at the polls suggested there was insufficient […]
27 May 2016
As last week, much of the media commentary on the polls this week has suggested that Remain has made a decisive breakthrough. On Sunday The Observer kicked off with the contention that its latest poll from Opinium showed there had been a substantial shift towards Remain amongst Conservative supporters. This was followed by a poll […]
20 May 2016
It has been a week of considerable polling excitement in the EU referendum campaign. First, on Tuesday the Daily Telegraph reported a phone poll from ORB that, once Don’t Knows were left aside, put Remain on 58%, up four points on the company’s last phone poll in the third week of April. Then at Wednesday […]
11 May 2016
The local and devolved elections on May 5th have come and gone, and so (apart from a by-election for Sadiq Khan’s former parliamentary seat of Tooting on June 16th) the political world can focus its mind exclusively on the EU referendum. Not that polls of voting intentions in the EU referendum stopped appearing in the […]
29 April 2016
Perhaps one of the most frustrating aspects of being a politician is that you can fire what you think is some of your most powerful electoral ammunition – only to discover a few days later that, for all the media buzz and excitement you have generated, voters have seemingly been wholly unmoved. The Remain campaign certainly […]
18 February 2016
Doubtless the Prime Minister will have had plenty to read on his journey to today’s vital European Council meeting in Brussels. Most of his reading material will, of course, have been about the stances of his fellow leaders on the outstanding issues in the renegotiation and how their concerns might be met. But maybe also […]
