What do 'left' and 'right' mean?
The nutshell
'Left' and 'right' are labels for two broad sets of political ideas. In short, the left tends to favour more equality and a bigger role for government, while the right tends to favour tradition, lower taxes, and a smaller role for government.
Every fact on this page comes from neutral reference works and official guides. Each source tag — like EB — opens where a fact comes from.
The basics
Where the words come from
The words left and right started as real seats. In France, in 1789, a new parliament met to change how the country was run. Members who wanted big change sat on the left of the room. Members who backed the king and the old ways sat on the right.EB The names stuck, and are still used today.
What 'left' broadly means
Left is a label for ideas that lean towards more equality. The left often wants government to do more — for example, to run public services and to help share out wealth. Encyclopaedia Britannica links the left to greater equality and a bigger role for the state.EB
What 'right' broadly means
Right is a label for ideas that lean towards tradition and a smaller role for government. The right often wants lower taxes and more freedom for businesses and private property. Encyclopaedia Britannica links the right to tradition, authority, and property.EB
How the labels are used in the UK
Most UK politics happens through parties. Nearly all MPs belong to a political party — a group of people who broadly share the same aims.ParlCommentators often place each party somewhere on a line from left to right. The label is a rough guide, not a fixed rule.
- The labels began as real seating: in France's parliament in 1789, supporters of the king sat on the right and supporters of change sat on the left, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica
- As a shorthand, 'left' and 'right' give a quick sense of the broad direction of an idea or a party
- Nearly all UK MPs belong to a political party, and those parties are often placed somewhere on a line from left to right
- The left-to-right line is a simplification, and many people hold a mix of views that do not sit neatly on one side
- What counts as 'left' or 'right' can change over time and can mean different things in different countries
- A single line hides other big questions, which is why some people use a two-way chart, or 'compass', instead
The deep end6 min
A line drawn in a French parliament
The left-right idea comes from a seating plan. When France's National Assembly met in 1789, members who wanted to change the old system gathered on the left of the chamber, and members who wanted to keep the king and the old order gathered on the right, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica.EB The seating pattern repeated in later parliaments, and the words left and right became a shorthand for two broad directions in politics.
What each side broadly stands for
Encyclopaedia Britannica links the left to greater equality and a larger role for the state in economic and social life.EB It links the right to tradition, established authority, and private property.EB These are broad directions, not fixed checklists. A person or a party can lean left on one question and right on another.
Why the line is only a rough guide
The left-right line is a simplification. It squeezes many separate questions — about the economy, about social rules, about the role of the state — onto a single line. Because of this, some people prefer a two-way chart, sometimes called a political compass, that adds a second question and gives more room. The topic on the political compass looks at that idea.
The same word, different meanings
Left and right do not mean exactly the same thing everywhere. What counts as left or right can shift between countries, and it can change over time as debates move on. In the UK, most of this plays out through political parties. Nearly all MPs belong to a party, and the party with the most MPs after an election normally forms the government, UK Parliament records.Parl Where each party sits on the left-right line is often debated, and the topics on conservatism and the political compass go further into those arguments.