text: Not a single Labour candidate questioned by a major polling company mentioned the deficit as being one of the biggest issues facing Britain. Ipsos Mori interviewed almost 100 candidates from the major parties, asking them what they thought the most important issues facing the country were. Not one Labour candidate listed the government spending or the deficit; compared to 35 per cent of Tory candidates. In an IpsosMori survey of people standing for election, not one of Ed Miliband's Labour candidates named the deficit as an important issue facing the country . 35 per cent of Tories mentioned the deficit, 5% of Lib Dems and 9 per cent of those surveyed standing for the Scottish National Party . Among the Liberal Democrats, 5 per cent mentioned the deficit as an issue; and even among the left-wing SNP, it was brought up by 9 per cent of candidates. The omission recalls Ed Miliband’s embarrassing gaffe in which he completely forgot an entire passage about the deficit from his conference speech last year. The issue of Britain’s relationship with the EU was also not mentioned by a single Labour candidate. Unlike David Cameron, Mr Miliband is not pledging any renegotiation of powers or a referendum on EU membership. Pollsters from Ipsos Mori asked 98 candidates to list what they thought were the biggest issues. They could mention anything they liked – there were no promptings. The top issue for all parties was the economy, mentioned by 85 per cent of Conservative and Lib Dem candidates but only 62 per cent of Labour ones. For Labour, the economy tied with health and the NHS as the main issue. It was mentioned by 62 per cent of candidates, compared with 65 per cent for the Lib Dems and 54 per cent of Tories. The next most important issues for Labour were ‘inequality’ (mentioned by 24 per cent of candidates), housing (21 per cent), and then jobs, immigration and education (all tied on 14 per cent). For Tory candidates, the third most important issue was spending and the deficit (35 per cent), jobs (31 per cent), education (27 per cent) and the relationship with the EU (19 per cent). No Conservative candidates mentioned inequality, housing or the impact of austerity. The economy and the NHS were the most frequently mentioned issues among the three main parties . Immigration, housing and international ties were the least likely to be mentioned by candidates . Austerity was the most important issue for the SNP (64 per cent), while surprisingly only 3 per cent of Labour candidates mentioned it. The survey, unveiled at a briefing by Ipsos Mori, was based on interviews with 98 candidates, including 26 Tories, 29 Labour and 20 Lib Dems. The briefing pointed out that the last time an opposition party was elected with an overall majority after just a single parliament out of office – the goal of Labour – was in 1931. It said that a leader had never been elected prime minister with such low ratings as Mr Miliband. But it also pointed out that the last time a governing party increased its votes hare after more than two years in office – the goal of Mr Cameron if the Tories are to govern alone – was 1955. Meanwhile Harriet Harman has admitted that drivers could be hit with a hike in fuel duty if Labour gets into power. The deputy Labour leader refused to rule out above inflation increases in taxes on fuel, alcohol, tobacco or air fares. Asked if the party would raise the levy on petrol, she told LBC: ‘We rule out increasing VAT, the basic or the higher rate of tax, we will put up the top rate of tax, we will not put up the national insurance rates. ‘For all the other taxes that there are – you know, airport taxes, I can’t remember what they are called, airport passenger duties, or alcohol duties or tobacco or petrol – we will lay that out in the Budget.’ It emerged that Chuka Umunna, the shadow business secretary, had called for the scrapping of the Trident nuclear deterrent. The potential leadership contender suggested that Trident should be ‘the first to go in the round of public spending cuts to come after the general election’, according to a 2010 interview with Brixton Blog.
target: Poll of candidates asked them what were country's biggest challenges .
  None from Labour named the deficit when survey by Ipsos Mori .
  Echoes Ed Miliband's blunder when he forgot deficit in conference speech .