Will Labour’s welfare reform proposals cost it Glasgow East?

Has Glasgow East influenced the postponed 2p increase in fuel duty, as David Cameron implied today? I doubt it, for a depressing reason. The place is so poor that most households in that constituency – 59% to be precise – simply don’t have access to a car (let alone own one). For the record, here are the car ownership figures for some of the estates in Glasgow East (from the 2001 census). In Parkhead North, 77.2% have no car. In Easterhouse it’s 71%. In Banlanark, 71%. In Bridgeton, 64%.  I can understand why, in Westminster, they may have a vision of the motorists of Glasgow East punching the air in response to today’s news. But there is another area of government policy that matters more to the electors of Glasgow East.

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Matthew Lynn

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If the government had Glasgow East in mind it wouldn’t let James Purnell announce his “tough love” welfare reform package on Monday.