Has Gordon Brown made a big mistake with the national insurance increase?
Despite various attempts by the Labour Party to take the subject of national insurance off the headlines over the last few days there is no doubt this is becoming something of a major issue. The Conservative party is adamant that the increase in national insurance contributions is actually a tax on jobs and is hounding the UK government this weekend. It is also becoming evident that this is having an impact on the voting polls and the Conservative party lead would appear to be increasing.
This is a very difficult situation for the Labour Party because ultimately it cannot u-turn on the subject and will need to fight it out in the public domain. The longer the situation remains in the headlines the more chance the Conservative party has of pushing further ahead in the polls. There is no doubt that this has so far been the biggest "mistake" by Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling who had made a miraculous recovery in the polls.
Even the intervention of Lord Mandelson into the mix has had no impact at the moment although the political arena is very volatile at present and everything can turn literally on a sixpence.
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