DANISH POLITICS (4)

Six months on from their worst ever polling result, the Social Democrats, the party of Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, are still languishing in the polls at 17.5%. However, whereas in March the main beneficiaries of that unpopularity were the very left-wing Enhedslisten, today it is the very right-wing Danish People's Party. For the first time ever, they are polling higher than the Social Democrats, at 20.2%, up from 12.3% at the last election.

Voters seem to have worked out that while Enhedslisten has absolutely no chance of being in Government either before or after the next election, it is quite possible that the DPP will be part of the expected right-of-centre coalition. That would not be a particularly fun prospect, in my view; but would nevertheless be a remarkable advance in a Scandinavian country for a political movement founded on being against taxes and immigrants.

Walter Blotscher