Skip to content

Analysis

Where the UK parties sit

One line — left to right — is about money: how much the government taxes, spends and steps in. The other — up and down — is about control: how much the state tells people how to live. Put them together and every party sits somewhere on the map.

Drag the slider to move through the years. Left–right comes from each party's election manifesto, all the way back to 1945. The up–down score comes from a long-running survey of political scientists from 1999 on; before that we estimate it from the same manifestos and line it up with the survey — so the early up–down points are estimates, not survey readings.

More state controlLess state controlMore left-wingMore right-wing
2024
Left ↔ right, since 1945
More right-wing
More left-wing
19452024

Left–right comes from party manifestos, 1945–2024. The up–down (state-control) score comes from a survey of political scientists from 1999 on; before that it is estimated from the same manifestos and lined up with the survey. Where these numbers come from.

The figures behind this chart

Left–right, 1945–2024 (Manifesto Project RILE)

Every plotted position, from Manifesto Project (MARPOR) — left–right (RILE), 1945–2024. Figures marked est. are estimated from manifestos before the survey begins.
PartyYearMore left-wing ↔ More right-wing
Conservative194515.20
Conservative19500.20
Conservative1951-1.40
Conservative1955-30.60
Conservative1959-23.30
Conservative1964-7.80
Conservative19669.30
Conservative19708.20
Conservative197411.40
Conservative197924.40
Conservative198329.00
Conservative198730.47
Conservative199227.90
Conservative199725.74
Conservative200114.92
Conservative200514.54
Conservative201017.54
Conservative2015-1.57
Conservative2017-2.61
Conservative20196.21
Conservative20244.23
Labour1945-31.30
Labour1950-28.10
Labour1951-35.20
Labour1955-38.90
Labour1959-26.60
Labour1964-23.80
Labour1966-14.80
Labour1970-10.30
Labour1974-27.50
Labour1979-26.60
Labour1983-39.20
Labour1987-13.55
Labour1992-30.40
Labour19978.07
Labour20011.47
Labour2005-3.09
Labour2010-1.50
Labour2015-18.14
Labour2017-27.56
Labour2019-31.84
Labour2024-16.91
Liberal / Liberal Democrat1945-6.80
Liberal / Liberal Democrat195010.50
Liberal / Liberal Democrat1951-2.90
Liberal / Liberal Democrat19558.00
Liberal / Liberal Democrat1959-10.80
Liberal / Liberal Democrat1964-35.60
Liberal / Liberal Democrat1966-13.70
Liberal / Liberal Democrat19706.40
Liberal / Liberal Democrat19742.60
Liberal / Liberal Democrat1979-18.90
Liberal / Liberal Democrat1983-9.50
Liberal / Liberal Democrat1987-4.17
Liberal / Liberal Democrat1992-22.10
Liberal / Liberal Democrat1997-5.58
Liberal / Liberal Democrat20010.26
Liberal / Liberal Democrat20053.21
Liberal / Liberal Democrat20104.66
Liberal / Liberal Democrat2015-16.07
Liberal / Liberal Democrat2017-21.75
Liberal / Liberal Democrat2019-19.56
Liberal / Liberal Democrat2024-23.16
Scottish National Party1992-13.04
Scottish National Party1997-1.07
Scottish National Party2001-12.65
Scottish National Party2015-24.66
Scottish National Party2017-25.83
Scottish National Party2019-24.46
Scottish National Party2024-30.22
Plaid Cymru2015-26.42
Plaid Cymru2017-20.54
Plaid Cymru2019-18.72
Plaid Cymru2024-31.22
Green Party2015-29.11
Green Party2017-33.97
Green Party2019-20.37
Green Party2024-32.58
UKIP200135.00
UKIP2015-7.79
UKIP20172.04
Reform UK202424.26

State control, 1945–2024 (survey from 1999; earlier estimated from manifestos)

Every plotted position, from Chapel Hill Expert Survey (CHES) — the state-control axis (GAL–TAN), 1999–2024. Figures marked est. are estimated from manifestos before the survey begins.
PartyYearLess state control ↕ More state control
Conservative19453.58 est.
Conservative19503.93 est.
Conservative19514.05 est.
Conservative19553.83 est.
Conservative19594.13 est.
Conservative19644.78 est.
Conservative19663.51 est.
Conservative19705.77 est.
Conservative19745.25 est.
Conservative19794.86 est.
Conservative19834.45 est.
Conservative19874.30 est.
Conservative19926.20 est.
Conservative19976.12 est.
Conservative20017.81
Conservative20056.54
Conservative20106.27
Conservative20156.15
Conservative20176.16
Conservative20196.18
Conservative20247.14
Labour19453.71 est.
Labour19503.83 est.
Labour19513.69 est.
Labour19553.32 est.
Labour19592.33 est.
Labour19643.36 est.
Labour19664.00 est.
Labour19703.51 est.
Labour19744.00 est.
Labour19793.12 est.
Labour19832.55 est.
Labour19874.19 est.
Labour19922.73 est.
Labour19975.56 est.
Labour20014.72
Labour20054.71
Labour20104.07
Labour20153.20
Labour20172.75
Labour20192.29
Labour20243.33
Liberal / Liberal Democrat19453.91 est.
Liberal / Liberal Democrat19502.93 est.
Liberal / Liberal Democrat19515.13 est.
Liberal / Liberal Democrat19553.00 est.
Liberal / Liberal Democrat19594.20 est.
Liberal / Liberal Democrat19643.86 est.
Liberal / Liberal Democrat19663.22 est.
Liberal / Liberal Democrat19703.98 est.
Liberal / Liberal Democrat19743.59 est.
Liberal / Liberal Democrat19792.87 est.
Liberal / Liberal Democrat19833.83 est.
Liberal / Liberal Democrat19874.81 est.
Liberal / Liberal Democrat19922.73 est.
Liberal / Liberal Democrat19974.77 est.
Liberal / Liberal Democrat20012.59
Liberal / Liberal Democrat20052.55
Liberal / Liberal Democrat20102.73
Liberal / Liberal Democrat20152.25
Liberal / Liberal Democrat20171.89
Liberal / Liberal Democrat20191.53
Liberal / Liberal Democrat20241.76
Scottish National Party19924.42 est.
Scottish National Party19974.14 est.
Scottish National Party20014.21
Scottish National Party20154.21
Scottish National Party20173.44
Scottish National Party20192.67
Scottish National Party20242.82
Plaid Cymru20154.06
Plaid Cymru20173.53
Plaid Cymru20193.00
Plaid Cymru20243.45
Green Party20150.96
Green Party20170.89
Green Party20190.81
Green Party20241.45
UKIP20017.73
UKIP20159.07
UKIP20178.64
Reform UK20249.10

Where these numbers come from

Manifesto Project (MARPOR) — left–right (RILE), 1945–2024. Lehmann, Franzmann, Al-Gaddooa, Burst, Ivanusch, Regel, Riethmüller, Volkens, Weßels & Zehnter (2025), The Manifesto Data Collection, Manifesto Project (MRG/CMP/MARPOR), Version 2025a, https://doi.org/10.25522/manifesto.mpds.2025a; RILE left–right index per Budge (2013), running from about −100 (left) to +100 (right). The Liberal line joins the Liberal Party and its Liberal Democrat successor. MARPOR

Chapel Hill Expert Survey (CHES) — the state-control axis (GAL–TAN), 1999–2024. Jolly, Bakker, Hooghe, Marks, Polk, Rovny, Steenbergen & Vachudova (2022), 'Chapel Hill Expert Survey Trend File, 1999–2019', Electoral Studies 75; and Rovny et al. (2025), 'The 2024 Chapel Hill Expert Survey', Electoral Studies. The up–down axis is GAL–TAN, running from 0 (least state control of social life) to 10 (most state control). This survey sets the up–down position from 1999 onward. CHES

Up–down before 1999 — estimated from party manifestos. Before 1999 the up–down position is estimated from each party's manifesto, following Trastulli (2022), 'Two is better than one? Testing a deductive MARPOR-based left–right index on Western Europe (1999–2019)', Italian Journal of Electoral Studies 85(2): 59–76, https://doi.org/10.36253/qoe-13796. A manifesto GAL–TAN index — favourable mentions of the nation, tradition, law and order, social unity and one culture, minus personal choice, minority rights, internationalism and their opposites — is placed on the Chapel Hill 0–10 scale by fitting the two over 1999–2024, where they agree at r = 0.671, and reading the fit back to 1945. These early up–down points are estimates, not survey readings. Est.

These are estimates, not exact points: each reads a party's election manifesto or a survey of political scientists, and every party holds a range of views. Positions between measured years are drawn by joining the points. Up–down figures before 1999 are estimated from manifestos and matched to the survey.

THE CLAIM
WHERE IT’S FROM
WHY IT’S RELIABLE
See it yourself
PEOPLE OFTEN ASK
What is first past the post?How do UK elections work?How are the facts checked?