Manifesto sales soar
By Sasjkia Otto
Voters are buying election manifestos in record numbers.
And there has been a huge surge in people buying the Liberal Democrat’s programme.
Waterstone’s say sales of the Lib Dem’s manifesto are up 250% from 2005.
Manifesto sales for the three major parties have already outstripped total sales in 2005 by 160% – eight days before the election on May 6th, according to figures released by the book chain today.
They are outselling some bestselling authors, including Nick Hornby and Sarah Waters.
The Liberal Democrats manifesto saw a surge in sales in the week after the first prime ministerial debate. It accounted for 36% of total sales with Labour coming in second at 30% and the Conservatives third at 30%.
“I’ve worked in books for nearly twenty years and have never seen such demand for manifestos,” said Andrew Lake, Waterstone’s politics buyer.
“This is clearly the most important election in a generation.”
The Conservative manifesto is the most popular so far with 38% of total sales, followed by the Liberal Democrats on 32%.
However, Labour has only sold 97% of the manifestos it did in 2005 and its manifesto is the least popular this year with 30% of total sales.
