At 11:30 this morning the Queen delivered her speech to the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Here, the Queen set out a rather limited detail agenda for Government over the next two years. The intention is to avoid a Queen’s Speech entirely next year, when we will be mid-way through our negotiations on exiting the EU. Instead of the usual Royal Regalia, coaches and full pageantry, the Queen arrived by car wearing wore a blue coat and hat (perhaps saving time changing to get to Royal Ascot later in the afternoon). Her decision not to wear the […]

Yesterday Theresa May undertook her first cabinet reshuffle of the new parliament. I say first, it could well be the last. And it wasn’t so much of a reshuffle as a slight adjustment here and there.   The top jobs, Treasury, Home Office, Foreign Affairs and Defence all remained the same. Philip Hammond, who thought he was on the way out, was able to issue an ultimatum to the greatly weakened Prime Minister saying that he wanted a ‘softer Brexit’. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has asked for unity from the famously ruthless Tory members. It is true that if the Conservative […]

Senior Consultant Diana Varley looks in more detail at the polling during this General Election campaign.   Until Theresa May called the General Election, the polls were relatively consistent. Last month the Conservative Party were miles ahead and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party were struggling to keep up. UKIP were just behind the Liberal Democrats, polling at between five and seven percent compared to the Liberal Democrats’ 12 percent. Meanwhile the Greens were polling at less than three percent.   Then the Prime Minister called a snap General Election and all hell broke loose. In polling terms. The UKIP vote collapsed […]

Campaigning in the UK election is well underway again after the shocking terrorist attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester. The decision that was (rightly) made to suspend campaigning gave the nation time to grieve over a terrible act which specifically targeted young women and girls celebrating the many freedoms offered to them in the West. It is worth saying that whilst campaigning is back in full swing, for many families, the horrors of that night earlier this week is a constant worry and will not ease any time soon.   UKIP were the first to being campaigning again, […]

County council elections took place across England on Thursday 4 May. Each of the Counties in Chelgate’s operating main areas have been listed below, with information on how the balance of power has changed following the elections. Going in to the elections, the majority of the county councils in the south east with were Conservative-led. The much hyped ‘Lib Dem Fightback’ failed to materialise, despite a handful of Conservative councillors defecting to the Liberal Democrats in the weeks before the election over Brexit. UKIP fared particularly badly on Thursday night, losing every single seat it was defending (114 in total) […]

In a period of huge political uncertainty with Brexit, Trump and other world leaders including Putin jostling for stronger positions, Prime Minister Theresa May has thrown her hat into the ring by calling a UK General Election. If she manages to get her surprise snap poll, announced in Downing Street earlier today, through the House of Commons it will be held on 8 June this year. Mrs May wants her own mandate to counter Opposition arguments that she’s unelected which she feels weakens her Brexit stance. The PM spoke of a unifying campaign, in stark contrast to the EU referendum when […]