4. “Class is the basis of British
politics, all else is
embellishment and detail”
Pulzer (1967)
5. Class voting
• In post war Britain, voting behaviour was predictable
• 90%+ of the electorate voting for the main two
parties
• 90%+ saying they had strong attachment to a
political party
• So there was little swing between elections
• Over 2/3 of the working class supported Labour and
4/5 of Middle class supported the Tories
• There were always deviant voters though: without
the support of 30% working class voters, the
Conservatives would never have won an election in
the 50s-60s
6. Class dealignment
• From the 1970s onwards voting
patterns began to become
more unpredictable, the
electorate more volatile LABOUR (DE) 1974 – 57%
• The argument was that class LABOUR (DE) 2010 – 40%
was becoming less of an issue
and that short term factors
were becoming more important
in determining the way a TORY (AB) 1974 – 56%
person would vote TORY (AB) 2010 – 39%
• More cross class voting
7. Class today
• Class is still a factor today: most
middle class still vote Tory, most
working class still vote Labour.
• However, there are more floating
voters than ever before – with
less than 40% of voters saying
they have a strong attachment to
any party
• The rise of the Lib Dems saw them
take almost ¼ of the vote in 2010
8.
9. Age – Younger voters
• Voting first restricted to 21+, in the belief that the young are most
likely to question values and favour radical policies (vote Labour).
• Along with this radical streak, the young are also most likely to
become disaffected least likely to vote (in 2001 6 out of 10 18-24
year olds stayed away from polling booths)
• Impact in 2005 in areas with large student population – against
tuition fees in Withington, Sheffield Hallam and Cambridge,
increasing Lib Dem vote.
• The increasing potential of older people’s votes is shown as
pensioners groups and Age Concern have increasing power and try
to mobilize the ‘grey vote’
10. Age - Older
• The UK’s population is ageing
• The increasing potential of older people’s
votes is shown as pensioners groups and
Age Concern have increasing power and try
to mobilize the ‘grey vote’. The Pensioners
Party even won a seat in the Scottish
Parliament!
• Older voters tend to vote Conservative –
perhaps because they are wealthier or
become more fearful of change
11.
12. Gender
• For most of post-war period, women were more
likely than men to vote Conservative.
• This gender gap reflected social attitudes of the time
& that relatively few women went out to work and
therefore not exposed to force heightening class
consciousness (unionisation, working men’s pubs &
clubs)
• This gap narrowed during the Thatcher era
(antagonism?) and again during the Blair years. In
1997 & 2001 Labour enjoyed healthy lead of young
women voters, but not older women (has age made
them less radical?).
13.
14. Ethnicity
• The ethnic vote in the UK has tended to heavily favour
the Labour Party (average 80% of black & Asian vote
since 1974).
• This part of electorate becomes more important to
parties as the immigrant population increases
• Linked to social class – many immigrants live in working
class urban environments
• Labour Party has generally been more pro-immigration &
welfare
• 2005 – decrease in vote for Labour, especially amongst
Muslims because of Iraq war – impact inner city areas
e.g. Bethnel Green & Bow elected Respect Party
15.
16. Region
• During the 1980s it became
increasingly topical to talk of a
‘North-South’ divide in UK
politics:
• Labour held only a few seats
south of the Bristol Channel
and the Wash (excluding
London)
• The Conservatives held few in
the North of England and no
seats at all in Wales or
Scotland for a time
17. Region
• Though New Labour had some
success in the South after
rebranding in 1997 & 2001 the
broad trend persists
• Liberal Democrat support also has a
regional dimension – being strongest
in the ‘Celtic Fringe’
• Theses are generalisations, and
arguably largely a reflections of class
factors and the rural/urban divide
