--[how2vote]--  

The election was on May 5th 2005
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how2vote overall results to date:
Initial preferenceResult of how2vote
38%  Conservative 34%
31% Labour25%
32% Lib Dems41%

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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 20400 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 ConservativeLabourLib DemNo preference
Use private healthcare to speed diagnosis of serious illness48%9769 votes 46%46%50%48%
Ban smoking in public (see footnote)47%9561 votes 43%50%52%46%
Elderly can't be forced to sell homes to pay for healthcare45%9212 votes 40%44%50%46%
Use private hospitals for additional NHS capacity44%9030 votes 42%44%47%44%
Points-based work permits for immigrants43%8704 votes 47%41%40%42%
Imprison high-risk offenders indefinitely42%8650 votes 46%39%39%43%
Free off-peak bus travel for elderly42%8479 votes 37%44%49%40%
Allow asylum-seekers to work41%8401 votes 36%43%50%39%
Free personal care for elderly41%8366 votes 34%42%48%41%
Free eye and dental tests38%7853 votes 32%38%48%38%
Community service for non-violent offenders38%7820 votes 30%41%49%37%
Stop building on greenfield sites37%7478 votes 32%35%45%36%
Permanent immigrants must pass English language test36%7391 votes 44%32%32%36%
24-hour port surveillance34%7035 votes 43%30%28%35%
Need robust new terrorism laws34%6990 votes 37%36%28%35%
3rd world debt relief the highest priority33%6811 votes 16%43%51%31%
Abolish central hospital targets33%6641 votes 36%25%40%31%
Increase maternity pay to minimum wage32%6574 votes 24%36%41%31%
Dedicated border police32%6508 votes 40%28%25%33%
50% on £100K income tax32%6460 votes 19%36%46%30%
Remove unhelpful speed cameras31%6353 votes 35%26%31%31%
Withdraw Iraq troops by year-end31%6232 votes 24%23%40%33%
Yearly quota for asylum seekers30%6224 votes 42%23%20%32%
Join Euro or hold referendum30%6109 votes 14%42%46%27%
Electronic border system30%6040 votes 36%27%23%30%
Scottish MPs only vote on Scottish issues30%6031 votes 33%27%35%27%
Free rail discount cards for concessions29%5936 votes 23%31%37%28%
National ID card29%5861 votes 29%35%23%29%
Extend maternity leave from 6 to 9 months28%5747 votes 20%33%34%28%
Abolish school exam grade allocation targets28%5734 votes 28%26%37%26%
Re-open closed railway stations28%5703 votes 25%27%35%27%
Local communities can ban GM crops27%5585 votes 22%25%35%27%
Expand asylum detention places27%5492 votes 35%25%19%27%
Publish individual exam marks27%5466 votes 26%26%30%26%
Add 20,000 new prison places26%5312 votes 35%24%20%25%
Repeal the recent Terrorism Act25%5040 votes 22%20%38%23%
University tuition fees25%5038 votes 22%35%20%24%
Homeland Security Minister25%5009 votes 27%25%20%25%
Right to buy for housing association tenants24%4832 votes 23%22%28%23%
Replace council tax with local income tax24%4809 votes 17%19%38%23%
Abolish central house-building targets23%4784 votes 26%18%28%22%
Harder school exams23%4731 votes 29%19%25%22%
Restore disbanded army regiments23%4683 votes 32%18%19%22%
Charge for road usage22%4567 votes 18%25%30%20%
Re-elect whole councils every 4 years22%4536 votes 23%21%25%21%
Extend length of rail franchises22%4466 votes 24%21%21%21%
Head teachers given full control22%4411 votes 31%16%18%21%
Legalise cannabis for personal use21%4310 votes 14%24%30%20%
Schools can offer international exams20%4180 votes 20%19%24%20%
Dedicated car-pool lanes20%4044 votes 13%24%28%18%
Favour EU constitution20%4023 votes 7%31%32%16%
Pay half the cost of the equivalent NHS op when going private20%3987 votes 29%14%15%19%
Link pensions with earnings19%3974 votes 22%18%20%19%
Strengthen regional assemblies18%3754 votes 11%22%29%16%
House of Lords reform was botched18%3730 votes 13%22%26%16%
Single transferrable vote17%3514 votes 13%18%25%16%
Repeal fox-hunting ban16%3291 votes 30%8%12%15%
Cut government ministers by a third15%3054 votes 19%10%14%15%
Cut number of MPs by 20%15%2962 votes 18%10%13%15%
Give the vote to 16 year-olds12%2454 votes 7%14%19%11%
Merge GCSEs and A-levels into diploma system9%1832 votes 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 ConservativeLabourLib DemNo preference
For Use private healthcare to speed diagnosis of serious illness48%9769 votes 46%46%50%48%
ForBan smoking in public (see footnote)47%9561 votes 43%50%52%46%
For Elderly can't be forced to sell homes to pay for healthcare45%9212 votes 40%44%50%46%
For Use private hospitals for additional NHS capacity44%9030 votes 42%44%47%44%
For Points-based work permits for immigrants43%8704 votes 47%41%40%42%
For Imprison high-risk offenders indefinitely42%8650 votes 46%39%39%43%
ForFree off-peak bus travel for elderly42%8479 votes 37%44%49%40%
For Allow asylum-seekers to work41%8401 votes 36%43%50%39%
For Free personal care for elderly41%8366 votes 34%42%48%41%
ForFavour free eye and dental tests38%7853 votes 32%38%48%38%
For Community service for non-violent offenders38%7820 votes 30%41%49%37%
ForStop building on greenfield sites37%7478 votes 32%35%45%36%
For Permanent immigrants must pass English language test36%7391 votes 44%32%32%36%
For 24-hour port surveillance34%7035 votes 43%30%28%35%
For Need robust new terrorism laws34%6990 votes 37%36%28%35%
For3rd world debt relief the highest priority33%6811 votes 16%43%51%31%
ForAbolish central hospital targets33%6641 votes 36%25%40%31%
For Increase maternity pay to minimum wage32%6574 votes 24%36%41%31%
For Dedicated border police32%6508 votes 40%28%25%33%
For50% on £100K income tax32%6460 votes 19%36%46%30%
ForRemove unhelpful speed cameras31%6353 votes 35%26%31%31%
ForWithdraw Iraq troops by year-end31%6232 votes 24%23%40%33%
For Yearly quota for asylum seekers30%6224 votes 42%23%20%32%
AgainstRepeal fox-hunting ban30%6175 votes 15%41%38%30%
ForJoin Euro or hold referendum30%6109 votes 14%42%46%27%
AgainstTuition fees30%6105 votes 27%23%43%29%
AgainstGive the vote to 16 year-olds30%6051 votes 33%30%30%28%
For Electronic border system30%6040 votes 36%27%23%30%
For Scottish MPs only vote on Scottish issues30%6031 votes 33%27%35%27%
For Free rail discount cards for concessions29%5936 votes 23%31%37%28%
ForNational ID card29%5861 votes 29%35%23%29%
For Extend maternity leave from 6 to 9 months28%5747 votes 20%33%34%28%
For Abolish school exam grade allocation targets28%5734 votes 28%26%37%26%
For Re-open closed railway stations28%5703 votes 25%27%35%27%
ForLocal communities can ban GM crops27%5585 votes 22%25%35%27%
For Expand asylum detention places27%5492 votes 35%25%19%27%
For Publish individual exam marks27%5466 votes 26%26%30%26%
For Add 20,000 new prison places26%5312 votes 35%24%20%25%
AgainstPay half the cost of the equivalent NHS op when going private26%5250 votes 14%36%35%24%
AgainstWithdraw Iraq troops by year-end25%5189 votes 26%35%25%22%
AgainstHead teachers given full control25%5178 votes 16%30%34%25%
AgainstJoin Euro or hold referendum25%5153 votes 36%16%17%27%
For Repeal the recent Terrorism Act25%5040 votes 22%20%38%23%
ForUniversity tuition fees25%5038 votes 22%35%20%24%
ForHomeland Security Minister25%5009 votes 27%25%20%25%
AgainstDedicated car-pool lanes24%4842 votes 27%21%22%