May 2017

Scottish National Party seats set to slide to 47 (4th May 2017)

The Scottish National Party is set to see their number of seats in the House of Commons reduced from 54 to 47, according to leading spread betting firm Sporting Index.

Early predictions showed that the SNP would lose ground in the general election campaign due to the increasing support for the Tories, and the latest from the Sporting Index trading floor is that Nicola Sturgeon's party will surrender seven seats when the results are announced on 8th June.

The SNP experienced a meteoric rise in 2015's general election, seeing their share of Parliament's benches increase from six to an impressive 56. However, since Sporting Index's general election markets went live last month, the chances of Scotland's pro-independence party seem to have dwindled, and they are now expected to see their number of representatives reduced.

Ed Fulton, trading spokesman for Sporting Index, said: "As the Tories continue to go from strength to strength since our markets opened, it's now looking like Nicola Sturgeon's party will lose ground in this election campaign. The SNP currently sit at 47, and it looks likely that they will see their power in parliament reduced when the results are announced next month."

"Similarly, the latest betting also suggests that Jeremy Corbyn has plenty to worry about in the run up to the election too, as Labour seats could drop from 229 to 164."

Tories to turn Parliament blue with record-breaking 405 seats (5th May 2017)

The Conservative Party is set to break history with their biggest ever general election victory by extending their number of seats to 405, according to leading spread betting firm Sporting Index.

The results will be grim reading for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is set to steer his party to its worst ever defeat. They now look like plummeting to 148, which will see them surrender a remarkable 81 seats.

The Lib Dems have also been weak since trading began, falling from 31 to 23 seats.

Ed Fulton, trading spokesman for Sporting Index, said: "The Tories are absolutely flying at the moment, and it looks like there's no stopping Theresa May and her party's momentum as election day draws nearer."

"At 405, the Conservatives would secure their biggest ever win, and would be just 14 seats away from overtaking Tony Blair's overall record amount of 418 in 1997. Meanwhile, on the other side of the fence, Jeremy Corbyn is struggling to keep his head above water, and at 148 it would take a miracle for there to be a turnaround in Labour's favour."
 

Wenger has one year left as Gunners boss (8th May 2017)

Spread bettors Sporting Index predict Arsene has 375 days remaining at the Emirates.

Sporting Index are predicting that Arsene Wenger will be given one more year in charge at Arsenal.

The latest from the leading spread betting firm suggests the Gunners boss may have bought himself another season in charge after notching his first ever Premier League victory over Jose Mourinho on Sunday.

Wenger had been odds-on to leave Arsenal with a number of fixed-odds bookmakers back in March, but yesterday's victory over rivals Manchester United has prompted spread bettors Sporting Index to quote his remaining tenure at 375 days.

Ed Fulton, trading spokesman for Sporting Index, said: "Arsene Wenger couldn't confirm where his future lies in a post-match interview on Sunday, but we're pretty confident he's going to get another year".

The exact quote is 375 days, suggesting Wenger will be given a full season to finish his 20-year service at the club with a bang.
 

Nearly 1 in 5 Brits would choose Arsene Wenger to run the country (16th May 2017)

As the English Premier League season finale draws near, research by Sporting Index finds 16 per cent of people in UK would pick under-pressure Frenchman as Prime Minister.

Research by Sporting Index has found that nearly one fifth of the British public would vote for under-fire Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger as Prime Minister and the country's leader.

Ahead of next month's general election, the leading political spread betting firm commissioned pollsters Opinium to identify which English Premier League manager would gather the most number of votes to take the Westminster hot-seat, and found that from those who picked a specific manager, 16 per cent would vote for Gunners' gaffer Wenger.

If the results are based on football managerial success and personality, the results may come as a surprise to many, given that the Frenchman has struggled to help his side mount a serious title challenge this season and has refused to step down thus far. The Gunners could also miss out on Champions League qualification for the first time in Wenger's 20-year tenure.

The debate around whether he should stay on at Arsenal has divided opinion in the football world, with many saying he should remain in charge while other fans have called for him to leave and have paraded 'Wenger Out' banners at the Emirates. Wenger, who Sporting Index last week predicted would last one more year in the job, has also been likened to Jeremy Corbyn due to the latter's current circumstances as leader of the Labour party with the self-confessed Arsenal fan also finding opposition amongst his own.

Next Premier League bosses in favour to take over after Wenger are, in joint place, Jurgen Klopp and Jose Mourinho. While Klopp is relatively new to the Premier League having joined Liverpool in October 2015, Manchester United technician Mourinho is a Premier League old-guard having managed Chelsea for two spells across six seasons, steering them to three league titles, one FA Cup and three League Cups. He has also already won this season's League Cup with United and is on the brink of winning the Europa League.

The highest number of votes for a British manager go to Crystal Palace boss Sam Allardyce, who leads the way with nine per cent. Allardyce was infamously sacked as England manager after only 67 days at the helm following an undercover investigation around football agent fees. However, public opinion shows he would have public backing over the remaining eight British managers in the top division where he pips the likes of fellow Englishmen Eddie Howe (five per cent) and Sean Dyche (four per cent), Scot David Moyes (four per cent) and Welshmen Tony Pulis (four per cent) and Mark Hughes (three per cent).

Arsenal boss Wenger also dominates all three the demographic groups from the survey sample, securing majority votes from 18-34 year olds (15 per cent), 35-54 year olds (15 per cent) and over 55s (20 per cent).

When broken down by region, Wenger also beats the rest. Of those who voted for managers from the North-East, North-West, Yorkshire and Humber, East and West Midlands, East of England, London, South-East and South-West England, the Arsenal manager comes out on top in each region.

Ed Fulton, political trading spokesman for Sporting Index, said: "After yet another enthralling Premier League season in England, timed nicely in the run up to a snap election next month, we thought it would be interesting to identify which manager would generate the most support if they were to run for Prime Minister of the United Kingdom."

While we were slightly surprised to see Arsene Wenger run out on top given his team's recent poor form, his experience managing Arsenal for 20 years has not gone unnoticed. While trophies haven't come thick and fast over the last decade, people clearly don't forget the golden years of 'The Invincible' season in 2003-2004, winning back to back FA Cups in 2002 and 2003, and reaching the Champions League final in 2006. His experience seems to suggest people think of him as prime candidate."

"We've seen American history feature high profile celebrities running for top political jobs, including Arnold Schwarzenegger achieving success when being voted into office as Mayor of California, and most recently global businessman Donald Trump winning US Presidency so is it completely inconceivable to imagine Arsene Wenger as the country's Prime Minister?"

More than half of Brits don't know who Tim Farron is (26th May 2017)

Research by Sporting Index has found that 52 per cent of people in Britain do not know who the leader of the Liberal Democrats is.

Tim Farron was elected as leader of the Lib Dems in July 2015 following Nick Clegg's resignation, and he has spearheaded the party's campaign in this year's snap election. However, following a survey taken by pollsters Opinium, results show that over half of the 2,000 people surveyed couldn¿t name who the leader of the major political party is.

The results are clearly worrying for Tim Farron, who is eager to stamp his authority on this year's general election despite currently being predicted by Sporting Index's traders to secure just 16 seats - down from 31 since the spread betting firm's markets opened in April.

The shocking results don't stop at the Lib Dem party leader either, as the research also highlighted that nearly one in five people in Britain don't know Theresa May is the leader of the Conservative party and, more shockingly, one in five Brits between 25 and 34 years old also don't know who the UK Prime Minister is.

Men turned out to be the worst for identifying Theresa May as the leader of the Conservatives - who are tipped to win the election comfortably and secure 381 seats by Sporting Index's traders. Nearly one in five men (19 per cent) were not able to name who the Prime Minister of the country is when questioned by Opinium.

Those who were surveyed were also shown several seven pictures and were asked to identify which one was Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, which revealed that over one in ten (12 per cent) couldn't correctly identify the Labour leader.

The survey results also come after British film director Guy Ritchie recently caused outrage by admitting he didn't recognise cardboard cut outs of election hopefuls Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn. This has caused people to question the country's political awareness in the lead up to the first general election since Britain's decision to leave the European Union, with the nation set to go to the polls in just over two weeks.

Ed Fulton, political trading spokesman for Sporting Index, said: "With the general election just a few weeks away, our research makes for interesting reading - and its bad news for the leaders of the political parties."

"Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn and Tim Farron have spent big to make sure they are as recognisable as possible, but according to our research, a large percentage of the population still don't know who they are. This could indicate an apathy from the British public to politics, or that the likes of May, Corbyn and Farron simply aren't charismatic enough to be remembered."

"There's still time before we go to the polls, and all three will have to knock on a few more doors to make sure they're not forgotten about on June 8."

London loves politics (31st May 2017)

Research by Sporting Index has found that Londoners just can't get enough of politics, with 59 per cent of people living in the city admitting to discussing the latest in the political world at work each week.

With the general election just eight days away, the latest figures show London is by far the chattiest when it comes to discussing what's happening in Westminster.

Brighton is officially the least politically sociable, with just two per cent of their population discussing politics in the work place each week.

Manchester and Newcastle tied near the top end at 14 per cent, with Birmingham at 12 per cent and Liverpool scoring a comparably low nine per cent.

Edinburgh is closest to London for political workplace discussions compared with the rest of the UK after just under one fifth of people admitted to discussing politics with colleagues.

Londoners are also the most argumentative city when discussing politics at work, with one third admitting to bickering on the job once a day. This also goes hand in hand with additional data that shows 56 per cent have confirmed they've had bad experiences at work due to political discussions.

While London tops the table for discussing politics and arguably showing most enthusiasm in the UK for the topic, the city scored the highest from all UK locations for not knowing who the leaders of the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties are. More than half answered `don't know' when quizzed on who the Labour and Conservative party leaders were and a huge 68 per cent revealed they were unsure who the leader of the Liberal Democrats was.

Perhaps even more alarming, London also came out on top of the cities who did not know who the UK Prime Minister was at 48 per cent.

Ed Fulton, political trading spokesman for Sporting Index, said: "With the general election just over one week away now, the results from our survey are very interesting and point to some key discussion points. It's excellent to see that London feels so involved and keen to discuss politics where many other cities look to avoid debate where they can be compared with places like Manchester, Newcastle and Liverpool, London clearly has more people keen to spark up political debates in the workplace."

"However, the stats also cannot hide that many Londoners don't know important information that is detrimental to voting on the day - namely who the leader of each party is. Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn and Tim Farron have spent big to make sure they are as recognisable as possible, but according to our research, a large percentage of people in London population still don't know who they are."

"This could indicate that the likes of May, Corbyn and Farron simply aren't charismatic enough to be remembered by people in the capital."