Labour to get a drubbing in the Euro elections?
The Euro elections are just four days away.
UKIP and the Greens are currently trying to out do each other in their claims to be "the only party that can keep the BNP out" in the North West.
While Labour look like they are heading for a drubbing.
An ICM survey for the Sunday Telegraph Labour in third place for the first time since 1987 on just 22% - three points behind the Lib Dems and 18 behind the Conservatives.
The poll put the Greens on 11% and UKIP on 10%, about 7 points down on its showing in earlier polls. The BNP was on 5%.
If something like this pans out the BNP would not get a seat, it's generally accepted they need around 10% to get a North West seat.
The figures will be skewed, as they represent the national picture, and the BNP is likely to be faring better than just 5% as it got 134,959 votes or around 6% last time round.
Who will you be voting for?
I thought it worth drawing Dale Street Blues readers attention to these words from European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering on why people should vote:
The European Parliament elections this June are a unique exercise of democracy: an electorate of 375 million voters, across 27 countries will elect a single Parliament representing nearly 500 million citizens of the European Union. They are taking place at a crucial moment. They represent a great opportunity to re-launch the European Union and to address the issues that are important to citizens such as the economic crisis, climate change, globalisation or immigration.
They provide an opportunity to show why the European Union is relevant and to demonstrate the practical importance of the European Parliament's work in all of our daily lives.
Parliament is responsible in areas ranging from regulation of financial markets to consumer protection and the limitation of carbon emissions. Practical examples of how the European Parliament uses its legislative powers to improve our everyday lives are the blacklist of unsafe airlines, the reduction of the cost of phoning and roaming charges in Europe, and the rules on the safe use of chemical products. Others include rules on the provision of services which prevent social dumping, stringent food safety standards or the financing of important infrastructure projects.
Today approximately 75% of European Union legislation is decided by the European Parliament together with the Council of Ministers which represents the Member State Governments.
In the last Parliamentary term the European Union took the lead in tackling climate change. A decisive step in the protection of our environment was the approval of the climate change legislative package which aims to reduce our carbon emissions at least 20% by 2020. This work should continue in the next term for the European Parliament. Diversification of energy sources is also a big priority for the coming years.
Today we are facing a severe economic and financial crisis. Citizens are concerned about their jobs, their mortgages and how to pay their monthly bills. These are real and tangible difficulties faced by European voters. No country can tackle the problem alone. In Europe, a European solution is needed.
The European Parliament has requested stricter regulation of the financial markets and more transparency of the banking system. It is making its contribution to restoring the trust of the citizen and to building a future based on a social market economy - markets at the service of people.
The European Union has tools with which we can meet the challenges of the future. Now is a very good moment to give the European project new direction, dynamism and vision. I hope that on 4 June British citizens will exercise their important democratic right, to go and vote. The European Union has an important role to play in all of our futures.
The forthcoming elections are an opportunity for voters to raise their concerns with candidates and vote for the kind of European Union they would like to see. If you care what decisions are taken in Brussels and Strasbourg, if you care who is taking them, then make your voice heard.
It's your choice!
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David Bartlett
City editor of the Post and Echo covering politics, regeneration, and urban affairs.
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Hi David,
We are certainly not claiming to be the "only" vote to beat the BNP. That would be factually inaccurate and unethical - it is what Labour have explicitly claimed on their leaflets. I've not seen anything from UKIP either that makes an exclusive claim about being the anti-racist vote.
We do make our case why tactically we think we are the best vote at www.stopnickgriffin.org.uk but it is up to voters to use their judgement about what is the best option. The main point is that everyone does get out and vote to ensure we don't end up with the BNP representing us for the next five years.
Given the current climate, we don't want disillusioned Lib Dem and Labour voters staying at home because of a lack of a positive alternative. Watch out for some startling election news in the Independent tomorrow!