Party Conference - Labour

LABOUR MISTRUST OF LIB DEMS COULD BLOCK FUTURE COALITION A new poll published ahead of this year’s Labour Party Conference has revealed deep levels of mistrust in the Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Clegg, amongst Labour MPs. The survey is published today by the world’s leading public relations company, Edelman, and leading pollsters Populus.

This survey is the second in a unique series of reports on trust in the parties to be released over the coming weeks.

Insights from today’s report include:

1. VINCE CABLE TOPS TRUST TABLE AMONGST LABOUR MPs Amongst Labour MPs, Vince Cable is the most trusted member of the cabinet (with 38% of Labour MP respondents citing him as the Liberal Democrat Minister they ‘most trusted’).

Ed Davey is the second most trusted Liberal Democrat member of the cabinet amongst Labour MPs surveyed, but with just 5% of Labour respondents citing the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

Labour MPs also cited a number of Ministers, including Norman Lamb and Steve Webb, as their most trusted Lib-Dem Cabinet members, despite their not being in the Cabinet.

MOST TRUSTED

38%

5%

3%

3%

3%

50

40

30

20

10

0 VINCE CABLE

ED DAVEY

STEVE WEBB

MICHAEL MOORE

NORMAN LAMB

Table 1 Labour MPs were asked – Thinking about both sides of the coalition, which Liberal Democrat Cabinet Minister do you most trust to do the right thing (in your opinion)?

2. NICK CLEGG THE LEAST TRUSTED LIBERAL DEMOCRAT MINISTER AMONGST LABOUR MPs Nick Clegg is the least trusted Lib Dem member of the cabinet amongst Labour MPs, with over half of those surveyed naming the Deputy Prime Minister as the Lib Dem Minister they least trust.

Another minister closely associated with the Coalition Government’s economic agenda, Danny Alexander, also fared poorly amongst Labour MPs, 10% citing him as their least trusted Liberal Democrat within the current Government.

Table 2 Labour MPs were asked – Thinking about both sides of the Coalition, which Liberal Democrat Cabinet Minister do you least trust to do the right thing (in your opinion)?

LEAST TRUSTED

57%

10%

7%

NICK CLEGG

DANNY ALEXANDER

LYNNE FEATHERSTONE

60 50 40 30 20 10 0

1-3=Don’t Trust, 4-6=Neutral, 7-9=Trust

Populus surveyed 120 MPs on the Populus Parliament Panel between 20th June and 20th July by self-completion postal questionnaire and online. Data was weighted to be representative of the House of Commons in terms of Party representation. Where results do not sum to 100%, this may be due to rounding, multiple responses, or the exclusion of ‘don’t know’ categories. Populus is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. For more information, see www.populus.co.uk/methodology/Transparency-and-the-British-Polling-Council/.

3. LIB DEM MPs WARY OF LABOUR Just 14% of Liberal Democrat MPs interviewed believe that the Labour Party can be trusted to fulfil its commitments.

This compared against 43% of Liberal Democrat MPs surveyed saying that they did not trust Labour to fulfill its commitments.

LIB DEM MPs OVERALL

60 50 43%

40

43%

30 20 Table 3 Liberal Democrat MPs were asked – Overall, how much do you trust each of these parties to fulfil their commitments? Please give a score from 1-9 where 1 is ‘not at all’ and 9 is ‘a great deal’.

14%

10 0 Don’t trust Labour to fulfill their commitments

1-3=Don’t Trust, 4-6=Neutral, 7-9=Trust

Neutral

Trust Labour to fulfill their commitments

CHRIS RUMFITT, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS AT EDELMAN, COMMENTED:

“

This survey shows that, two years into the Coalition, there is still little love lost between Labour and the Lib-Dems.

It is difficult to see how Labour could do a deal with the current Lib Dem leadership considering the low levels of trust in key ministers shown by Labour MPs. This could represent a major stumbling block for both Parties should the next General Election produce a hung Parliament.

However, the high level of trust in Vince Cable amongst Labour MPs suggests that the Business Secretary could play a pivotal role in any negotiations with Labour that might result from a hung parliament in 2015.

”

ABOUT EDELMAN Edelman is the world’s largest public relations firm, with 65 offices and more than 4,500 employees worldwide, as well as affiliates in more than 30 cities.

Edelman was named Advertising Age’s top-ranked PR firm of the decade in 2009 and one of its “A-List Agencies” in both 2010 and 2011; Adweek’s “2011 PR Agency of the Year;” PRWeek’s “2011 Large PR Agency of the Year;” and The Holmes Report’s “2011 Global Agency of the Year” and its 2011 “North American Large Agency of the Year.”

Edelman was named one of the “Best Places to Work” by Advertising Age in 2010 and 2012 and among Glassdoor’s top five “2011 Best Places to Work.” Edelman owns specialty firms Edelman Berland (research), Blue (advertising), A&R Edelman (technology), and agencies Edelman Significa (Brazil), and Pegasus (China).

For further information please contact Dominic Pendry on (+44)020 3047 4065 or (+44)07969 517 849. Alternatively please visit www.edelman.co.uk for more information.

ABOUT POPULUS Populus is a leading research and strategy consultancy that helps organisations understand their reputation among key audiences.

For further information see www.populus.co.uk Populus surveyed 120 MPs on the Populus Parliament Panel between 20th June and 20th July by self-completion postal questionnaire and online.

Data was weighted to be representative of the House of Commons in terms of Party representation. Where results do not sum to 100%, this may be due to rounding, multiple responses, or the exclusion of ‘don’t know’ categories.

Populus is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. For more information, see www.populus.co.uk/ methodology/Transparency-and-the-British-Polling-Council/.

DANIEL J EDELMAN • SOUTHSIDE • 105 VICTORIA STREET • SW1E 6QT • WWW.EDELMAN.CO.UK