Which party has the strongest message?

One interesting nugget from Lord Ashcroft’s latest batch of polling is what his focus groups in two seats – Sutton and Cheam, and Elmet and Rothwell – had to say about the parties’ messages. Here’s a quick summary:

Conservative: ‘Finish the job and get back on track’.
Labour: ‘Vote Labour to save the NHS’, possibly adding ‘and stop the cuts’ or ‘and tax the rich’.
Liberal Democrat: ‘Vote Lib Dem to balance the extremes – to split the difference’.
Ukip: ‘Leave the EU and control immigration.’
Greens: ‘Vote Green to save the planet.’

Ashcroft was also struck by the cut-through achieved by the Greens’ now-defunct policy of decriminalising membership of terrorist organisations, and noted that while voters had absorbed the Tory message on the economy, not all of them were convinced it was going in the right direction.