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Cardiff tops broadband electoral poll

Get a load of this swing-o-meter

Election 2005 Cardiff is the broadband capital of the UK, according to the boffins at research outfit Point Topic. With less than two weeks to go until the general election, analysts have done some pre-vote number crunching and discovered that two constituencies in Cardiff are streets ahead in the broadband polls.

Some four in ten households in the constituency of Cardiff Central have broadband followed closely by Cardiff North.

Using broadband to provide its own brand of political analysis, Point Topic reveals that of the top ten broadband constituencies, seven are held by Labour with just three seats held by the Tories.

In the report Point Topic estimates that "over 37 per cent of households in the Cardiff Central constituency have got broadband".

It goes on: "Besides Cardiff and Swansea, the other peak broadband area is the belt of prosperous towns and suburbs to the north of London. Labour has done well in this type of constituency, even though their relative prosperity might suggest they were more likely to be Conservative. Seven out of the ten most broadband constituencies are Labour, compared with six out of ten in England and Wales as a whole."

Although net access isn't a major issue at this year's election, researchers point out that if it were, then the "digital divide" would be top slot in any political manifesto.

And Labour, it seems, is the only one of the big three to include broadband in its manifesto. Even then, it was based on a short and rather woolly statement. "We will deliver our cross-government strategy for closing the digital divide and using ICT to further transform public services," it said.

Anyhow, Point Topic's take on broadband and the election can be seen here. If this doesn't give apathetic voters a reason to turn out on 5 May then nothing will. ®

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