As we head in to the closing four or five days of voting, I thought it was about time the leadership election had a Google Map!

I’ve taken a sample of 15% of the members of the Chris Huhne This Time Facebook group and plotted their geographic location in Google Maps – you can click through the results here.

The map shows that from Aberdeen to Aberystwyth, Chris Huhne is picking up support from Liberal Democrat members. Chris has national appeal.

The use of blue pins isn’t a subliminal message, it’s the default colour of the pins in Google Maps!

The map gives a flavour of  Chris’s nationwide support, though a few caveats should be noted.

• As the data is based on Facebook information, we can usually only show areas where there are Facebook networks or major universities, which explains why there is a big gap around the Scottish / English border, and in the Highlands and islands of Scotland. It also explains why there aren’t more pins around Chris’s constituency! If there are no pins in your area or county, this is the most likely reason.
• No exact addresses have been used, so someone who is in the Sheffield network has had their pin dropped somewhere on Sheffield, but the same is also true of Wales – a larger geographical area.
• If you’re pinned on the map and don’t agree with where your pin has been placed, please e-mail me and I’ll be happy to move it or remove it, but please note I will only accept e-mails directly from the individual(s) concerned.

One of many things on which we can all agree is that Vince Cable has shone as acting leader of the party. This morning he gave a ten minute interview to Andrew Marr covering defence, the economy (including house prices) and the leadership contest which he described as “very close”. You can watch the interview here.

Chris talks about school holidays, flexible working, paternity and maternity leave and more. From the party’s YouTube hustings.

From the party’s YouTube hustings

From today’s Independent:

A consultation paper issued yesterday said there could be additional taxes on those non-domiciled in Britain for tax purposes. In the pre-Budget report, the Chancellor, Alistair Darling proposed a tax of £30,000 a year on non-doms who had been living in Britain for seven years.

The Liberal Democrat leadership contender Chris Huhne said: “This is a scheme to levy a pin-prick poll tax of £30,000 a year on UK residents who come from overseas to keep their offshore earnings tax-free. The number of non-domiciled UK residents has doubled since Labour took power in 1997, and ministers must not be swayed by the substantial contributions to the Labour Party that many leading members of this community make. It would be much better for HM Revenue and Customs to negotiate individually with non-domiciled residents concerning the amount of tax they believe they should pay, as happens in Switzerland. This would land far greater sums from billionaires than a £30,000 levy.”