Courage!

Talk about an early election is centre stage again, and it looks like it will continue until the election, especially as polls are all over the place fuelling speculations about when the election is going to happen. The weekend polls were not much help either; YouGov on Sunday had the Conservatives on the lead at 40 , Labour at 31 up by 4points, and the Lib Dems at 16% down 2 points, according to this poll Labour looks like they have benefited from the PBR (Pre Budget Report) announcement. On the same day ComRes tells a different story all together, their poll put the Conservatives on 41% up 4 points, Labour on 24% down by 3 points, and the Lib Dems at 21% up by 1 point. Going by that poll the PBR was a catastrophe for Labour giving the Tories a clear 17% lead.

So which poll are we to believe? One thing most opinions, commentators and pundits agree on is that the PBR was a total disaster, and the public seems to agree with them. The PBR was the government’s last opportunity to tackle the biggest budget deficit in Britain’s peacetime history and cut spending, but instead they decided to put their political interest ahead of the country’s. By choosing to continue with reckless and irresponsible spending, they will only get the country deeper and further into debt. Due to their thoughtless they lost their last possible chance of gaining the publics’ trust or respect that is why regardless of whether the gap between Labour and the Conservatives is 9 points or 17 points Labour will need a miracle to win the next election.

Mr. Brown waiting until May to hold the election is not in his favour, even if the reason is to hold both elections on the same day. Waiting will only benefit the other parties, it will give them time to build momentum and gain more ground especially in the weaker Labour seats, plus it will wear down Labour grassroots even further. By waiting he is also taking a huge risk with the economy, early readings and indications are not at all on his side. It will be best for him to call it early, this way he will go out with dignity and decorum, go out on his terms his timetable and his say so, not because he ran out of time. It takes a lot of courage to face the truth and accept reality, a wise man once said; “Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose.”