article_snippet.sent: 35 per cent of Tories mentioned the deficit, 5% of Lib Dems and 9 per cent of those surveyed standing for the Scottish National Party .
article_snippet.sent: Among the Liberal Democrats, 5 per cent mentioned the deficit as an issue; and even among the left-wing SNP, it was brought up by 9 per cent of candidates.
article_snippet.sent: The top issue for all parties was the economy, mentioned by 85 per cent of Conservative and Lib Dem candidates but only 62 per cent of Labour ones.
article_snippet.sent: For Labour, the economy tied with health and the NHS as the main issue.
article_snippet.sent: It was mentioned by 62 per cent of candidates, compared with 65 per cent for the Lib Dems and 54 per cent of Tories.
article_snippet.sent: The next most important issues for Labour were
article_snippet.sent: ‘inequality’ (mentioned by 24 per cent of candidates), housing (21 per cent), and then jobs, immigration and education (all tied on 14 per cent).
article_snippet.sent: For Tory candidates, the third most important issue was spending and the deficit (35 per cent), jobs (31 per cent), education (27 per cent) and the relationship with the EU (19 per cent).
article_snippet.sent: The economy and the NHS were the most frequently mentioned issues among the three main parties .
article_snippet.sent: Austerity was the most important issue for the SNP (64 per cent), while surprisingly only 3 per cent of Labour candidates mentioned Austerity.