News

The Guardian

21 September 2025

Lib Dems should ditch Ed Davey’s stunts and talk policy, survey finds

The Liberal Democrats should drop their stunts and offer a more serious policy programme if they want to gain support among voters, according to a study presented at the party’s annual conference.

Polling by the More in Common thinktank, shown to Lib Dem members at the gathering in Bournemouth, suggested that while it has the scope to go beyond its historic total of 72 MPs at the last election, many voters tempted by the party remain uncertain about what it stands for.

A particularly notable finding was that more than 60% of voters thought stunts by party leader Ed Davey during the general election were not appropriate when the nation faced so many challenges, with only 21% saying they were a good way to get attention.

The feeling was strong even among current Lib Dem voters, 47% of whom worried that Davey’s sequence of image-friendly escapades risked making the party appear less serious.

The Telegraph

20 September 2025

Phillipson’s VAT raid unravels in an unexpected way

Labour may want to rethink VAT on private school fees, and not just for the obvious reasons such as the schools it has closed down, the teachers it has made redundant and the pupils – often those with special educational needs – displaced by the spiteful policy.

Polling by More In Common has, somewhat hilariously, found that former private school pupils would be more likely to vote Labour at a future general election than those who attended state schools.

The Independent

19 September 2025

Where you went to school may decide how you vote

Where a person went to school may be a deciding factor in how they vote at the next election, a new poll has revealed.

Reform UK is now the most popular party among former pupils of state schools, new findings from polling firm More in Common show.

Around a third (32 per cent) of this group would vote for the Nigel Farage-led party tomorrow if an election were called, reflecting its overall lead in nationwide polls.

The Telegraph

19 September 2025

Labour plummets to new low in polls after Rayner and Mandelson scandals

A separate poll conducted by More in Common between Sept 12 and 15 offered a slightly more hopeful picture for Labour, putting the party on 22 per cent.

However, it was still down by two points on the previous week after the Rayner and Mandelson scandals, with Reform out in front again on 31 per cent.

There was a glimmer of light this week for Sir Keir and Shabana Mahmood, his new Home Secretary, as two migrants were finally deported under the “one in, one out” deal with France.

The Telegraph

18 September 2025

Labour needs private schools – they are its voter base

But I couldn’t help but chuckle yesterday at the latest data from More in Common. Whilst most of the pollsters had a shocker at last year’s election, Luke Tryl and his team were mostly on the money. They continue to provide fascinating breakdowns of their regular headline voting intention figures. Which party is most popular with Aperol Spritz drinkers? Who is a fan of fish and chips most likely to vote for versus a pizza aficionado? I’ve yet to find a better way of making psephology fun.

This time, it was voting intention by school type: state, state selective (grammar schools, in old money) and private. The headline figures put Reform on 32 per cent, Labour on 21 per cent, and the Tories on 18 per cent. For state schools, it was essentially the same: 33, 20, and 17 respectively.