The election was on May 5th 2005 Sponsored by Cantab Films video production how2vote overall results to date: Initial preference Result of how2vote 37%  Conservative  34% 31% Labour 25% 32% Lib Dems 41% Back to the start page

how2vote policy summary statistics
Other statistics pages: By result - By section - By question - By key policies

On this page you can find out which answers/policies are most frequently chosen. You can also switch to an alternative version of this page which only shows results when the 'key issue' box was ticked for a question.

The first table on this page shows how often each manifesto statement in favour of a policy or a belief was chosen as a percentage of all the people completing the site. The second table shows the same results but includes people disagreeing with a policy too - there are more than 125 rows in this table, allowing a real insight into the popularity (or otherwise) of the parties' manifesto policies.

The second table differs more strongly from the first when you include the requirement that the person completing the questionnaire ticked the 'key issue' option for the relevant question - click here to see the alternative 'key issue' policy results.

The 2005 how2vote quiz has so far been completed over 20300 times. This page is generated live on each view.

This table shows you how often each answer has been chosen. This provides an indication of which particular policies are most popular. This table also tells you which policies are most important to supporters of the different parties:

Overall popularity of policies Click on a column heading to sort by it   Popularity by initial party preference Policies / Beliefs in favour of: Overall   Conservative Labour Lib Dem No preference Use private healthcare to speed diagnosis of serious illness 48%   46% 46% 50% 48% Ban smoking in public (see footnote) 47%   43% 50% 52% 46% Elderly can't be forced to sell homes to pay for healthcare 45%   40% 44% 50% 46% Use private hospitals for additional NHS capacity 44%   42% 44% 47% 44% Points-based work permits for immigrants 43%   47% 41% 40% 42% Imprison high-risk offenders indefinitely 42%   46% 39% 39% 43% Free off-peak bus travel for elderly 42%   37% 44% 49% 40% Allow asylum-seekers to work 41%   36% 43% 50% 39% Free personal care for elderly 41%   34% 42% 48% 41% Free eye and dental tests 38%   32% 38% 48% 38% Community service for non-violent offenders 38%   31% 41% 49% 37% Stop building on greenfield sites 37%   32% 35% 45% 36% Permanent immigrants must pass English language test 36%   44% 32% 32% 36% 24-hour port surveillance 34%   43% 30% 28% 35% Need robust new terrorism laws 34%   37% 36% 28% 35% 3rd world debt relief the highest priority 33%   16% 43% 51% 31% Abolish central hospital targets 33%   36% 25% 40% 31% Increase maternity pay to minimum wage 32%   24% 36% 41% 31% Dedicated border police 32%   40% 28% 25% 33% 50% on £100K income tax 32%   19% 36% 46% 30% Remove unhelpful speed cameras 31%   35% 27% 31% 31% Withdraw Iraq troops by year-end 30%   24% 23% 40% 33% Yearly quota for asylum seekers 30%   42% 23% 20% 32% Join Euro or hold referendum 30%   14% 42% 46% 27% Electronic border system 30%   36% 27% 23% 30% Scottish MPs only vote on Scottish issues 30%   33% 27% 35% 27% Free rail discount cards for concessions 29%   23% 31% 37% 28% National ID card 29%   29% 35% 23% 29% Extend maternity leave from 6 to 9 months 28%   20% 33% 34% 28% Abolish school exam grade allocation targets 28%   28% 26% 37% 26% Re-open closed railway stations 28%   25% 27% 35% 27% Local communities can ban GM crops 27%   22% 25% 35% 27% Expand asylum detention places 27%   35% 25% 19% 27% Publish individual exam marks 27%   26% 25% 30% 26% Add 20,000 new prison places 26%   35% 24% 21% 25% University tuition fees 25%   22% 35% 20% 24% Repeal the recent Terrorism Act 25%   22% 20% 38% 23% Homeland Security Minister 25%   27% 25% 20% 25% Right to buy for housing association tenants 24%   23% 22% 28% 23% Replace council tax with local income tax 24%   17% 19% 38% 23% Abolish central house-building targets 23%   26% 18% 28% 22% Harder school exams 23%   29% 19% 25% 22% Restore disbanded army regiments 23%   32% 18% 19% 22% Charge for road usage 22%   18% 25% 30% 20% Re-elect whole councils every 4 years 22%   23% 21% 25% 21% Extend length of rail franchises 22%   24% 21% 21% 21% Head teachers given full control 22%   31% 16% 18% 21% Legalise cannabis for personal use 21%   14% 24% 30% 20% Schools can offer international exams 20%   20% 19% 24% 20% Dedicated car-pool lanes 20%   13% 24% 28% 18% Favour EU constitution 20%   7% 31% 32% 16% Pay half the cost of the equivalent NHS op when going private 20%   29% 14% 15% 19% Link pensions with earnings 19%   23% 18% 20% 19% Strengthen regional assemblies 18%   11% 22% 29% 16% House of Lords reform was botched 18%   13% 22% 26% 16% Single transferrable vote 17%   14% 18% 25% 16% Repeal fox-hunting ban 16%   30% 8% 12% 15% Cut government ministers by a third 15%   20% 10% 14% 15% Cut number of MPs by 20% 15%   18% 10% 13% 15% Give the vote to 16 year-olds 12%   7% 14% 19% 11% Merge GCSEs and A-levels into diploma system 9%   7% 11% 11% 8%

Footnote: Of those in favour of banning smoking in enclosed public spaces, some were in favour of an exception to allow smoking in licensed premises which do not serve food. The breakdown on this issue for all in favour of banning smoking is as follows: Overall: 33% want to exclude bars without food from the ban / 67% want a complete ban And similarly in favour of the exception by initial party preference: Conservative: 34% / 66%; Labour: 33% / 67%; Lib Dem: 32% / 68%; No preference: 34% / 66%

This percentage breakdown shows how many times a policy was chosen out of all the people taking the how2vote quiz or expressing the relevant initial party preference. Click on column headings to re-sort.

This table shows you how often each policy has been either agreed or disagreed with, shown as 'For' or 'Against' respectively. This provides an indication of which particular policies are most popular and unpopular. This table also tells you which policies are most important to supporters of the different parties:

Overall Popularity/Unpopularity of policies Click on a column heading to sort by it   Popularity/Unpopularity by initial party preference For? Policy / Belief Overall   Conservative Labour Lib Dem No preference For Use private healthcare to speed diagnosis of serious illness 48%   46% 46% 50% 48% For Ban smoking in public (see footnote) 47%   43% 50% 52% 46% For Elderly can't be forced to sell homes to pay for healthcare 45%   40% 44% 50% 46% For Use private hospitals for additional NHS capacity 44%   42% 44% 47% 44% For Points-based work permits for immigrants 43%   47% 41% 40% 42% For Imprison high-risk offenders indefinitely 42%   46% 39% 39% 43% For Free off-peak bus travel for elderly 42%   37% 44% 49% 40% For Allow asylum-seekers to work 41%   36% 43% 50% 39% For Free personal care for elderly 41%   34% 42% 48% 41% For Favour free eye and dental tests 38%   32% 38% 48% 38% For Community service for non-violent offenders 38%   31% 41% 49% 37% For Stop building on greenfield sites 37%   32% 35% 45% 36% For Permanent immigrants must pass English language test 36%   44% 32% 32% 36% For 24-hour port surveillance 34%   43% 30% 28% 35% For Need robust new terrorism laws 34%   37% 36% 28% 35% For 3rd world debt relief the highest priority 33%   16% 43% 51% 31% For Abolish central hospital targets 33%   36% 25% 40% 31% For Increase maternity pay to minimum wage 32%   24% 36% 41% 31% For Dedicated border police 32%   40% 28% 25% 33% For 50% on £100K income tax 32%   19% 36% 46% 30% For Remove unhelpful speed cameras 31%   35% 27% 31% 31% For Withdraw Iraq troops by year-end 30%   24% 23% 40% 33% For Yearly quota for asylum seekers 30%   42% 23% 20% 32% Against Repeal fox-hunting ban 30%   16% 41% 38% 30% For Join Euro or hold referendum 30%   14% 42% 46% 27% Against Tuition fees 30%   27% 23% 43% 29% Against Give the vote to 16 year-olds 30%   33% 30% 30% 28% For Electronic border system 30%   36% 27% 23% 30% For Scottish MPs only vote on Scottish issues 30%   33% 27% 35% 27% For Free rail discount cards for concessions 29%   23% 31% 37% 28% For National ID card 29%   29% 35% 23% 29% For Extend maternity leave from 6 to 9 months 28%   20% 33% 34% 28% For Abolish school exam grade allocation targets 28%   28% 26% 37% 26% For Re-open closed railway stations 28%   25% 27% 35% 27% For Local communities can ban GM crops 27%   22% 25% 35% 27% For Expand asylum detention places 27%   35% 25% 19% 27% For Publish individual exam marks 27%   26% 25% 30% 26% For Add 20,000 new prison places 26%   35% 24% 21% 25% Against Pay half the cost of the equivalent NHS op when going private 26%   14% 36% 35% 24% Against Withdraw Iraq troops by year-end 25%   26% 35% 25% 22% Against Head teachers given full control 25%   16% 30% 34% 25% Against Join Euro or hold referendum 25%   36% 16% 17% 27% For University tuition fees 25%   22% 35% 20% 24% For Repeal the recent Terrorism Act 25%   22% 20% 38% 23% For Homeland Security Minister 25%   27% 25% 20% 25% Against Dedicated car-pool lanes 24%   28% 22% 21%