The Conservatives should resist the temptation to simply try to outflank Reform UK on the right, as the number of Reform voters willing to return to the Conservatives will not be enough to form a majority, while aping the politics of Nigel Farage is likely to cost the Party further votes in the centre. [...] The fragmentation of the party system The change election was also shaped by the rise of the smaller parties – the Liberal Democrats becoming the biggest third-party parliamentary force in a century, the Greens reaching record representation in Parliament, and Reform winning five seats and four million votes. [...] Figure 1 | Three quarters of Britons think it is time for change Rather than a deviation from the electoral patterns of the 2010s, this was the third ‘vote to change the status quo’ that British voters have delivered in just under a decade - first in the Brexit vote of 2016, then at the last General Election in 2019 and now again at the 2024 election. [...] A rejection of the status quo The outcome of the election clearly demonstrates that the public wanted a change from something – principally 14 years of Conservative government and the sense of chaos and incompetence that for many voters has been the hallmark of politics in recent years. [...] Gordon, Oil and Gas Worker, Aberdeen The most popular decisions taken by the former Conservative Government were those that protected the public from the worst of the shocks to the cost of living, such as setting a cap on energy bills (54 per cent net) and the furlough scheme during the COVID pandemic (49 per cent net).
Authors
Related Organizations
- Pages
- 137
- Published in
- United Kingdom
Table of Contents
- Contents 2
- About More in Common 4
- About UCL Policy Lab 4
- Foreword 5
- Executive Summary 7
- The Change Election 13
- A rejection of the status quo 14
- What does change mean to voters 16
- Going beyond delivery 17
- The politics of low expectations 18
- A legacy of broken promises 19
- How voter volatility affects change 20
- Starmer and change 23
- The British Seven segments and their change election 26
- How Labours coalition has changed 28
- How the Conservative coalition has changed 30
- A change election where many voters stayed at home 31
- Expectations for the new 35
- Judging progress on change 40
- Impatience for change 42
- Labours instincts 43
- Policy-specific expectations 46
- Cutting the cost of living 47
- Prescription for the NHS 51
- Balancing control and compassion the migration challenge 55
- A green mandate 61
- Levelling-up by any other name 66
- Navigating potential policy changes 69
- Rebuilding the Conservatives 72
- The Conservative coalition has become extremely narrow 72
- The Conservatives problem is valence not values 72
- Starting points for Conservative recovery 78
- Electoral coalition building doesnt work like Lego bricks 80
- Conservative to Labour switchers count double 83
- Conservative to Liberal Democrat switchers are a small 83
- Winning back the stay-at-homers 86
- Winning back the Whitby Women 87
- The Conservative Party unless it is a national party is 89
- The Conservatives next leader 92
- Navigating the rise in populism 94
- Why are populists gaining appeal across Britain 94
- How can political leaders better navigate the rise of 95
- Britains fragmented voter coalitions 101
- Labour voters 103
- The Average Labour voter 106
- Conservative Voters 110
- The Average Conservative voter 110
- Reform UK voters 113
- The Average Reform UK voter 114
- Liberal Democrat voters 119
- The Average Liberal Democrat voter 120
- Green voters 124
- The Average Green Party Voter 125
- Gaza independents 127
- Scotland 130
- Methodology 134
- Quantitative research 134
- Qualitative research 135
