This region contains a sizeable clutch of those crucial ‘Labour Leave’ seats through which the Prime Minister is trying to pave his path to an overall majority.
We can’t win a workable majority without breaking through in more seats in the urban and suburban North and Midlands.
Plus: Thither goes Harry Cole – to the Sun. Here comes Tim Montgomerie – on a diet. And: Tracey Crouch, sports mastermind.
The Tories ousted Ed Balls and the Liberal Democrats managed to return two seats, but otherwise this region was a low-scoring draw for the main parties.
The commonly-held belief on the Right that academia is a leviathan of leftist groupthink is a little wide of the mark.
I have also taken another look at Sheffield Hallam and South Swindon.
The battlegrounds show a mix of results. But UKIP is down across the board.
The region, which the Yorkshire Post argues should have its own Minister, is the scene of intense campaigning.
The left-wing vote in the seat is split – and I can come through the middle, as a candidate who was born and bred in the constituency.
Swing voters prefer Cameron to Miliband but, by a greater margin, Labour to the Conservatives.
A review of three polls.
Plus: Lord Ashcroft’s Scotland poll – I must revise my predictions. Abuse in Rotherham. An upset in Sheffield? My drivetime success. And: in memoriam, Martin Gilbert.
I launch today a new section of my website featuring an index of the 114 seats I have surveyed since last May.
Plus, should Nigel Farage be standing in Doncaster North rather than Thanet South?
We saw some huge swings in this ‘People’s Republic’ and we’re now second in every seat but one.