It’s been a while since I properly paid attention to things in detail, so was wondering if there’s anywhere which allows you easily compare local MPs and party policies.
This used to be a good site for policies: https://voteforpolicies.org.uk/
It basically lists the different policy proposals by all the parties, but doesn’t say what party they’re for. You then select the ones you like the most and then it tells you at the end what party you’ve chosen for each set of policies and who you match with the most.
Obviously it’s not available yet because they’ve got to collate all the manifestos, but it could be useful for you when it’s live.
Probably I Side With is your best option.
Also check your local media websites. Mine recently published a collection of personal statements from each of the candidates in my constituency, where all but one made their case for why people should vote for them. While it doesn’t dive deep into policies, it can give you an overall feel for what individual candidates are like. (Suffice to say, the independent candidate in my constituency who got kicked out of Reform for their social media posts, and sued a school for vaccinating children, is not going to get my vote.)
Some of those questions were weird.
But 93% Green, 90% Labour at one end and 15% UKIP at the other. Seems pretty accurate.
Yeah, I think some of the questions definitely come from the US version of the site (“should teachers be allowed to carry guns at school?” comes to mind), and aren’t really applicable to the UK.
90% Lib Dems and Greens for me (89% Labour) at one end, and 22% for Reform at the other. Digging deeper into the results, the areas I agree with Reform on include things that they agree with progressives on, like reforming political donations, and things where literally all the parties agree, like whether the government has done enough to deal with inflation.
The one I did last election for fun aligned me with Sinn Fein which was mostly because almost all of their policies were around the environment.
I think when UKIP were imploding I was matched up because their manifesto was around energy independence.
My point is, that these can be good guidelines but also make sure you do your research. Let this halp reduce the noise from all the parties.
Much like you looking at Reform, if UKIP was actually about independence, energy independence, food independence, and not just wanting to get rid of the French then it could be an interesting platform. But they consistently supported voted against onshore windfarms, increasing red tape for nuclear, and the normal Tory policy of overvaluing the pound so that we are optimised for imports.
I agree. They’re good tools as a starting point, but more research needed. The closeness of many results (like getting Labour, Lib Dems, and Greens within a few percentage of each other) mostly just shows where on the political spectrum you are.
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/provides stats about how your MPactually voted on different types of issues.
