Atlas / Comparisons / UK Conservative Party vs UK Labour Party
UK Conservative Party and UK Labour Party
Measured distance across six axes
Different families with real common ground. They agree within three points on SC, CH. They diverge by eight points or more on EC, CU, ID.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Tories | UK Labour Party | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | +06 | −03 | 9 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | +05 | −05 | 10 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| AU · Organisation of power | +02 | −03 | 5 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| SC · Scale of decision | +03 | +03 | 0 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| ID · Rule of membership | +03 | −05 | 8 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CH · Method and tempo | −05 | −08 | 3 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
Each axis runs from −10 to +10; the distance is the straight-line separation across all six at once, out of a maximum of 49.0. How the scoring works →
The evidence behind the widest gaps
A distance figure is worth nothing unless the scores behind it can be checked. These are the artefacts supporting the axes that separate these two most.
Tories · EC +06
Coded +6 today. The same party in 1975 supported nationalised rail, coal, steel and utilities and would have been coded near −2.
- Documented act or statutePrivatisation of telecoms, gas, water, electricity and rail between 1984 and 1996.
- Programme textThe 1970 and February 1974 manifestos accepted the nationalised industries as settled.
UK Labour Party · EC −03
Coded −3. The 1983 manifesto would have been coded near −8, which is the single largest party movement recorded here.
- Programme textClause IV, committing the party to common ownership, was rewritten in 1995.
- Programme textCurrent commitments include public ownership of rail and a publicly owned energy company within an otherwise market economy.
Tories · CU +05
Coded +5: socially liberal legislation from the party's own governments alongside a traditionalist base.
- Documented act or statuteSame-sex marriage was legislated by a Conservative government in 2013 against a majority of its own MPs.
UK Labour Party · CU −05
Coded −5: liberal on social questions with recent qualification on gender recognition.
- Documented act or statuteIntroduced civil partnerships in 2004 and the Equality Act in 2010; equal marriage passed in 2013 with its support.
What this comparison does not establish
Proximity means similarity of stated position. It carries no claim about competence, circumstance, scale of operation, or what either organisation actually did to the people under it. Two organisations can sit close together and produce entirely different histories, because those things are not on any axis and could not be.
UK Conservative Party
1834– · Britain
Fiscal restraint, national sovereignty, property ownership, controlled migration, gradualism.
UK Labour Party
1900– · Britain
Growth first, public service investment, workers' rights, stability and fiscal credibility.
Distance is not the whole answer. Two organisations can sit the same distance apart for entirely different reasons, and the reason is the content of any claim about them. Open the comparison in the atlas to weight the axes yourself.
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