Barometer | 25 May 2017

Sloganeering

Do snappy manifesto titles help win elections? Some which led to victory:

‘Let Us Face the Future’ — Labour 1945

‘The New Britain’ — Labour 1964

‘A Better Tomorrow’ — Conservative 1970

‘ Let Us Work Together: Labour’s Way Out of the Mess’ — February 1974

‘The 1979 Conservative Party General Election Manifesto’

‘ Because Britain Deserves Better’ — Labour 1997

And some which led to heavy defeats:

‘Winston Churchill’s Declaration of Policy

to the Electors’ — Conservative 1945

‘Action Not Words: the New Conserv­ative Programme’ — 1966

‘ The New Hope for Britain’ — Labour 1983

‘Britain Will Win With Labour’ — 1987

‘You Can Only Be Sure With the Conservatives’ — 1997

A bunch of figures

The NFU wants flowers for sale to be labelled with origin. Some floral statistics:

— We grow £82 million worth, import £666 million and export £23 million.

— We import most from the Netherlands (£466 million), Kenya (£52 million) and Colombia (£35 million).

— Britons buy an average £67 worth per year, compared with £243 per Norwegian.

— We buy mostly tulips (47.9 per cent), daffodils (19.2) and gladioli

Source: NFU

The cost of caring

The Conservatives did a partial U-turn on social care plans. How are costs rising?

— From 2005-06 to 2013-14 the percentage of over-65s receiving state-funded care fell from 15.3 to 9.2, but costs stayed the same; more was spent per person.

— By 2020-21 spending on old age care will rise by £1.65 billion to £9.99 billion.

— Over the next 20 years, the number of over-65s is projected to rise by 48.9 per cent and over-85s to more than double.

—Since 2014 the average age for suffering a disabling condition has fallen from 76.2 to 75.9 (women) and 75.6 to 75.3 (men).

Source: Age UK

Tweet and sour

Which MPs, by party, receive the most positive and negative responses to tweets?