Labour ‘won't pursue complaint' over polls

UK-- Ken Livingstone's complaint to the Market Research Society over YouGov's polls in the recent London mayoral election campaign was all but killed off today after the Labour Party said it would not pursue the action.

Livingstone was the party's candidate in the race to City Hall, which ended last week in victory for Conservative MP Boris Johnson.

Johnson's win had already put the complaint on shaky ground given that it was made in retaliation to a series of YouGov surveys that saw Livingstone trailing his rival in the popularity stakes.

The Livingstone camp accused YouGov of using “flawed” methodology and disputed its findings, however its final poll was accurate in predicting the actual voting outcome.

A spokesman for Labour told Research today that the party would not be pursuing the complaint, although he said he could not speak for non-party members of Livingstone's campaign team who might chose to do so.

Peter Kellner, president of YouGov, said he was delighted by the news, but added: “I have no doubt we would have seen off the complaint.”

Author: James Verrinder