Below is the updated North Wales voting intention poll updated with the latest ITV Wales/YouGov figures:
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The number of North Wales residents planning to vote for Plaid Cymru has been gradually rising since May and the 26% figure is the highest I've seen since I started to keep an aggregate of North Wales polls. Reflecting the national trend, the Lib Dems have now dipped to 9%, the lowest figure for them we have seen.
In terms of more powers for the Welsh Assembly, interestingly North Wales is still the Welsh region most opposed to further powers for the Welsh Assembly with 39% intending to vote against and 44% for in next year's referendum.
You can see the results in detail
here (pdf).
6 comments:
The remarkable thing in my opinion Druid, is not the recovery of Plaid, or the colapse of the Lib Dem vote, or the doldrums of the tory vote but the very sharp decline in Labour back to it's GE level.
You would think in an area as economically depressed as North Wales and as dependent on benefits - from pesnsions to JSA to tax credits, that the policy of tory cuts (as opposed to Labour 'efficiency savings') woul show a shift from Tory to Labour. You would also think Labour would pick up the disaffected form the social democrat wing of the LibDems - and it must be stated that the 01 July figures appeared to show this but now it appears Labour has slumped back to it's GE level, & the tories flat-lined (which they will be satisfied with at this stage). Therefore Labour's 'increase' must have deserted to Plaid in the along with the runaway LibDems and a small amount in eastern North Wales probably have switched to BNP and that will be part of the surge in 'others'.
I would speculate further and say that some people have probably shifted to the tories but at the same time some of the more right wing tories have in turn shifted to 'other' (probably UKIP as opposed to BNP).
Very interesteing though, and of all of them it's Labour who should be most worried.
They are Red Flag, very much so,with worse to come as the rank and file work force diminishes in to obscurity over the next two or three years and Anglesey becomes a labour waste land.
Quite true that the 'Rank & File' workforce has diminished here, it has diminished UK wide. Going back several months, it was said here that there are more people employed by small business than there are by large companies BUT the local authorities do very little to help existing small business develop. The reason of course is that when a small business adds one or two employees,perhaps doubling the workforce, it is not newsworthy hence no brownie points or press photographs. The fact still remains that there is every reason to help our smaller firms and cottage industry grow.
Hopeful
Having had a 'small business' it is a description much misused by government. Most small businesses (over 95%) employ less than 5 people including the boss. Most of them are things like small shops, tenanted pubs, and individual self-employed (architects, builders, window cleaners, taxi drivers, small holding farmers etc etc - you get the gist). A substantial amount of them employ only members of their own family and again a sunstantial amount have no assets other than their own home, car and tools - this is why the banks will not lend to them, they are basically worthles.
Hardly sexy stuff and it suits the government (current and previous) to let you assume a different meaning to the word 'small business'.
Red Flag
My point was, there are thousands of them nationwide and those thousands DO involve a lot of people, generally all taxpayers and perhaps more importantly all are voters. Whereas it takes only one enterprise like Anglesey Aluminium (or similar) to close and a massive number are left without work. In the case of the little businesses, as one or two or more fold up, the impact is minimal.
Hopeful
Anon, we do not support small businesses enough. Worse, we allow big buisness to exploit them and grind them down.
I am a big fan of small businesses and self employed people. It's good for the state and it's good for local communities. Small businesses keep the money in the local vicinity. Wherever possible I use local small businesses for precisely that reason. A couple of pence more in the pound perhaps but I work and have an Army pension so I have the capability to do it.
Napoleon's statement that we are a nation of shopkeepers is actually something to aspire to.
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