News
Is Nigel Farage a Threat to Labour?
Jon Mellon and Geoffrey Evans Nigel Farage’s Brexit party has had a very volatile start. The party went from nothing to winning the European Parliament elections in a matter of months, and has now fallen back to more modest levels after Boris Johnson became Prime…
Labour’s electoral dilemma
In our forthcoming book Electoral Shocks we show that how political parties respond to major political events is crucial to how those shocks affect voters’ choices and volatility, and ultimately which parties win and which parties lose. The Brexit shock is the biggest shock in…
New Class Divides in British Politics
Occupational class was once the fundamental structure behind the British party system, with the vast majority of the working class supporting Labour and the vast majority of the middle class supporting the Conservatives. This link frayed in the 2000s under the New Labour government and…
How Fresh Is the British Election Study Internet Panel?
The British Election Study Internet Panel offers huge advantages to studying British politics. So much of the current political situation can only be understood in terms of how individual voters are changing their attitudes and behaviours. The 16 waves of the panel conducted since 2014…
BES Internet Panel Wave 16 Data Released
The British Election Study is pleased to announce the release of wave 16 of the British Election Study Internet Panel. Wave 16 was conducted in May-June 2019, immediately following the European Parliament elections. In total 37,959 respondents took wave 16 of the British Election Study….
Press release: Most volatile British electorate in modern times
Across three elections from 2010-17 almost half UK electorate (49%) didn’t vote for same party; 2015 and 2017 general elections saw highest levels of voter volatility in modern times; “Electoral shocks” like Brexit, 2008 crash and immigration determine vote choice and have greater impacts in…
Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Is any Brexit Deal Possible...
The current withdrawal agreement agreed by Theresa May – the deal that is currently the only one on offer from the EU – is very unpopular. Unsurprisingly, only 5% of Remainers consider it to be a good or very good deal (in newly released BES…
BES Internet Panel Wave 15 Data Released
The British Election Study is pleased to announce the release of wave 15 of the British Election Study Internet Panel. Wave 15 was conducted in March 2019, immediately before the original Brexit deadline. In total 30,842 respondents took wave 15 of the British Election Study….
The BES and Scottish politics 2019-2023: recent analysis and consultation
On Friday 13 September the BES will hold an overview and consultation session regarding recent BES data related to Scottish politics. The session will take place in Glasgow on 13 September from 10:00-12:00. During the session the BES team will present new analysis on questions…
British Election Study 2019-2023
We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded the next round of British Election Study funding by the Economic and Social Research Council. The 2019-2023 British Election Study, Voters and the British Political System in the Context of Brexit, will consist of a…