Why is britain so left wing

Dominic Cummings made this point very explicitly in discussing the behavioural science underpinning his Brexit campaign. There are two separate dimensions: one focused on economic policies such as welfare, income inequality, nationalising industries and the deficit, the other on social matters such as immigration, minority rights, and crime and punishment. The levelling-up agenda and the huge state investments during the pandemic have left Labour squeezed on the left of the economic axis.

The protection of statues and public order is part of a broader socially conservative way of thinking that is more likely to see the world as a dangerous place, which motivates the desire to protect national traditions and norms from potential threats. In fact, images of UK naval vessels protecting Jersey on 6 May were perhaps the best shift in the news cycle the Conservative party could have hoped for on election day.

Culturally conservative voters have been moving away from the Labour party since , when they began to support Ukip. Research from UK in a Changing Europe has highlighted that Labour MPs and members are generally to the left of their voters on cultural issues. In fact they are much further to the left of the electorate as a whole on cultural issues. Where Labour is much more in tune is on economic issues.

It is true that, in , many members of Britain First which is a far-right British political organisation switched to the Conservative Party after Boris Johnson cancelled an inquiry into Islamophobia within the party. It is right that they should generate concern but, frankly, calling the UK government far right can sound offensive to those who have had to live their lives in countries which actually are dominated by far-right politics.

People like myself. I am 25 and I was born and raised in Poland. I left the country for good back in The political landscape of that time, especially the attitudes towards migrants and ever-growing anti-LGBTQ sentiments something which affects me directly on a daily basis were among my reasons to do so.

By comparison, the UK is downright liberal and it makes me uncomfortable to think someone might even consider the current UK government as far right. This speaks volumes. Hungary and Poland are places where we can see exactly what far-right politics can lead to. It is hard to imagine a situation in which UK universities are banned from offering students certain courses and degrees.

That is to say, even for the very most stereotypically left- and right-wing policies, half of the population do not identify them as such. If asking people whether something is a left- or right-wing view is not so helpful, then perhaps looking at what views left- and right-wing people hold might be more instructive.

Click to enlarge. So, instead, a better way to determine distinctly left- or right-wing views would be to look at what views people on one extreme are most likely to hold when compared to those on the other. Using this method reveals some more recognisably partisan stances. Please note, as mentioned above YouGov itself has not made a judgement on whether any given policy is left- or right-wing.

The examples that follow are all ones that the public consider to be left- or right-wing. So we looked at how the attitudes of people specific individual political views overlap, and the result is the same: large numbers of those who hold key left-wing views also support right-wing policies and vice versa.

Why does this matter?