Douglas Alexander is squashing “chatter” that Labour are planning to call a spring election in order to benefit from their current recovery in the polls:

As election coordinator I haven’t spoken to Gordon Brown about the possibility of an election…

Not a poster site has been booked – we are getting on with the job of focussing on how we can help families through the difficult times they are facing…

Of course there will be chatter in the newspapers, there may be chatter in the tearoom but I can assure you at the level of the cabinet we are entirely focussed on trying to help people with rising food bills, rising fuel bills and all the concerns they have got.

He’s dusting off the old “getting on with the job” mantra. But he is certainly right that a snap election at the moment would be extremely foolish.

Both for Labour and for the British people: A snap election now would not help Brown hold on to power, but just turn the electorate even more aginst politicians altogether, seeing them as even more sleazy and grasping as ever. They won’t appreciate being asked to make a decison for next four years in the middle of a financial crisis.