In a far more edifying televised US Presidential debate back in 1980, Ronald Reagan famously asked "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" Fast forward to Britain in 2024, and the answer, according to the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) National Accounts data, is sadly no.

How do attitudes to electoral reform differ by party? Most voters across all parties support automatic voter registration. There is likewise generally support for a shift to PR Compulsory voting and moving elections to weekends are generally divisive within all parties Opinion

BBC right now forecasting Lib Dems will have 56 seats, with The Economist forecasting 52 seats. Both likely underestimates?

Conservatives currently on 92 seats with 85 still to declare - are they really going to get to the exit poll figure of 131, let alone more?

Labour have exceeded Attlee's 1945 seat total of 393 (in a slightly smaller Commons) and Thatcher's 397 in 1983

Over 4 million votes for incomplete interest on central bank reserves

Nice thread. Pay-per-mile is needed for new EVs - but not older cars - and every year of delay will make this harder. Also see our Resolution Foundation report: economy2030.resolutionfoundation.org/reports/where-…

Not a criticism, guys, but hopefully one day male MPs won't all need to wear the same outfit!

First the Schumer leak, now Pelosi. "Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi privately told President Joe Biden in a recent conversation that polling shows that the president cannot defeat Donald Trump and that Biden could destroy Democrats’ chances of winning the House in November

The Government has a new ambition to reach an 80% employment rate. Slight problem: I don't think the ONS can accurately tell you what the current employment rate is or which direction it's moved in

Angela Rayner needs to get a Sphere built

Trump: “Get out and vote just this time. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years it will be fixed. It'll be fine. You won't have to vote anymore...In four years you don't have to vote again. We'll have it fixed so good your not gonna have to vote.”

One way of looking at the fiscal situation is that the £20bn-a-year National Insurance cuts weren't affordable and now need to be funded

This is very welcome: no more situations with zero future departmental spending plans

One of many odd things about Winter Fuel Payments is that presumably most pensioners are not even spending more on fuel in the winter anymore, as bills will be smoothed over the year

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Winter Fuel Payment policy choices just aren't very important compared to the State Pension. It looks like the 2025 triple lock uprating could - by itself - be bigger in real terms than the loss of Winter Fuel Payments.