The mood of Tory optimism shows itself on the betting markets
On the Betfair exchange CON now clear favourites to win most seats
With so any polls this week showing CON and LAB level-pegging or the blues ahead it’s inevitable that this was going to show on the betting markets. The money’s been going on them winning most seats and, as can be seen, there’s now quite a difference with the Labour price.
In betting terms the last time CON was at these level was in the aftermath of Cameron’s EU veto in December 2011. That was not to last as we saw in the mood change following the March 2012 Osborne budgets.
Everything has been helped by the Labour polling collapse in Scotland of which more to come next week from Lord Ashcroft.
The chart also shows the changes on three weeks ago when LAB had a slight margin.
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Clearly punters are betting on the trend not the actual numbers because level-pegging or a couple of points ahead is not sufficient to secure most seats
It is one of the facts of political betting that Tory punters react more to positive news about the party than Labour ones do. Theoretically this makes Labour the value bet but I’m doing nothing till I see the Ashcroft Scottish seats polls.