General Election Betting / maxliu / 30 September 2009 / Leave a comment

No seismic shifts in the Betfair election markets as Britain's biggest-selling tabloid abandons government...

Betfair's Election markets are yet to give a significant reaction to the news that Labour have lost the support of The Sun.

The Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid, which attracts around three million daily readers and has backed the winners in every election since 1979, announced that they were withdrawing their support of the government on the front page of this morning's edition.

Although the news is a blow for Gordon Brown, coming less than 24 hours after he had rallied the Labour Party with an impressive speech at the party conference, Labour remain around [14.5] to win an overall majority in the next election. They have traded at a high of [17.5].

The Conservatives, who will be buoyed by the Sun's change of allegiance, are a [1.4 ]shot in Betfair's Overall Majority market. However, the paper is yet to wholeheartedly declare its allegiance for David Cameron in the way that it did for Tony Blair in 1997.

If the Sun responds enthusiastically to Cameron's speech at the Tory party conference next week, we may see the Conservatives price shorten and Labour drfit.

Meanwhile, nobodoy is expecting an election before next year. In the Next General Election Date market, January 2010 or later is at an unbackable [1.02].