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Lord Ashcroft Poll on the Alternative Queen's Speech
Just 13% of voters agree that the August Bank Holiday should be renamed " Margaret Thatcher Day ", a new poll from Lord Ashcroft has found.
The proposal was among the ideas proposed in the "Alternative Queen's Speech" put forward by a number of Conservative backbench MPs last month.
Despite being promoted as proper conservative policies designed to win back disillusioned voters, Lord Ashcroft concludes that many of the proposals have little support and score highly on what he called the 'Meh Index' - the proportion who have no opinion on the idea one way or the other.
The findings include:
However, some proposals were received more positively, for example:
In the poll, respondents who were told that the ideas had been proposed by Conservative MPs registered lower levels of support for the policies than those simply told that they were ideas that some people had suggested ought to become law.
In his commentary on the poll, to be published on Conservative Home on Tuesday, Lord Ashcroft concludes that the Tories should not rely on the high-scoring ideas in an election campaign, but focus on broader concerns such as the economy:
"Though there may be merit in these ideas, we would be foolish to rely on them as our main campaign themes, however popular they may be in the abstract.
"Winning in 2015 will mean more than devising the most eye-catching ways of clamping down on criminals and foreigners. We certainly need to deliver on immigration, crime and welfare reform, but it is at least as important for the Tories to be a competent and united party of government that can be trusted on the economy and public services (which, incidentally, merited scarcely a mention in the Alternative Queen's Speech).
"Rather than play fantasy politics we need to respond to the country's anxieties and aspirations, not least those of people who may never have voted Conservative before. That ought to be common ground."
The full text of Lord Ashcroft's commentary is as follows:
Mr Bone's favourite among this assortment of "true blue bills" is the proposal to name the August Bank Holiday " Margaret Thatcher Day ". Unfortunately it is also the least popular. Only 13% of voters thought this was a good idea (and only 9% of those who were told the idea had been put forward by Conservative MPs); two thirds did not. Even Tory voters disagreed with the policy by a margin of 23 points.
I make no particular judgment on whether these are good ideas or not, or whether they constitute the "proper conservative policies" that Mr Bone and his colleagues claim (though it is at least debatable in some cases, such as banning the burka - how many Tories entered politics in order to tell people what to wear?) The point is that these proposals are supposed to be surpassingly popular, the antidote to compromise and muddle, the "mish-mash of inconsistent ideas that satisfy no-one".
Yet at least as instructive as the proportion of people agreeing with each proposal is the number who could not rouse themselves to an opinion one way or the other. For example, some (actually 39%, I can reveal) supported removing some of the UK's waters from the Common Fisheries Policy, but nearly half had no view either way.
In equal first place with the fisheries proposal on what I have termed the 'Meh Index' is scrapping the DPM's office, on which 48% had no opinion, slightly more than the 45% who were unexercised by the continued existence, or otherwise, of DECC. This equals the Meh Index score for requiring developers to hand over residential roads to local authorities within certain periods of time (my personal favourite among these election-winning People's Policies).
Only 38% approved of the proposal to withdraw Britain immediately from the EU. Perhaps surprisingly, one third of respondents had no opinion on this - a further reminder that the most hotly contested issues in Westminster often provoke rather less passion in the country at large.
Though there may be merit in these ideas, we would be foolish to rely on them as our main campaign themes, however popular they may be in the abstract. It is notable that for all these more broadly supported policies, as for most of the proposals on the list, support was measurably lower among the half of respondents who were told the ideas came from Tories.
That ought to be common ground.
Notes to Editors
View the poll: http://www.multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/prne/operations/Lord-Ashcroft-Alternative-Queens-Speech-poll-summary-1672013.pdf