Articles by Ian Simpson

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Ian Simpson, Senior Research and Policy Officer

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How did the political parties do in October’s polls?

Andy Burnham’s Labour government ticked off another set-piece event during October, the Budget delivered by the new Chancellor, John Healey. Only three of the polls comprising this month’s polling averages were conducted after the Budget,...

Posted 09 Nov 2026

Both Labour and Conservative vote shares are below what they achieved in 2024

The Israeli electoral system is not representative of proportional pepresentation

On 27 October 2026, Israelis will go to the polls to elect the 120 members of their parliament, the Knesset. Like the majority of countries, Israel uses a system of proportional representation to elect their...

Posted 22 Oct 2026

The Israeli system is very rare among the proportional systems used around the world

Quarter of a century of fair elections with proportional representation in Britain

Following Andy Burnham’s historic pledge that Labour will have a manifesto commitment to change the First Past The Post (FPTP) electoral system used for UK general elections, it is worth remembering that proportional electoral systems...

Posted 12 Oct 2026

25 years of proportional representation elections in Britain

Looking back on the last 20 months of UK political polls

This month’s polling breakdown is being written shortly after Andy Burnham’s big speech to Labour’s annual conference. One of the cornerstones of which was his announcement of a National Commission on Electoral Reform and the...

Posted 30 Sep 2026

The polling picture looks very different compared with the beginning of 2026

In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, First Past the Post would have turned a slight lead into a huge majority for the AFD

Germany is made up of 16 federal states, each with a slightly different version of proportional representation – making it a reliable source of news for us if nothing else! As per the national parliament,...

Posted 28 Sep 2026

Elections aren't a horse race, where all that matters is who crosses the line first

First Past the Post would have given the AfD nearly every seat in Saxony-Anhalt

There has been much coverage in recent days of the outcome of the state election in Saxony-Anhalt, which lies in eastern Germany. It is unusual for regional elections in other countries to generate such debate...

Posted 10 Sep 2026

First Past the Post means a party doesn’t need to win a majority of votes to rule alone

August 2026 in the polls: The latest UK monthly political polling averages

August is a month of long summer holidays for both schoolchildren and parliamentarians. However, it did not feel like politics took much of a break, with the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, keeping up a...

Posted 10 Sep 2026

Is talk of an early general election justified by any changes seen in the polls

What do the UK political polling averages for July 2026 point to?

July saw the transition from one UK Prime Minister to another for the fifth time since 2019. Andy Burnham stepped through the threshold of Number 10, followed by a flurry of announcements on various issues...

Posted 05 Aug 2026

There is only a 13 point 9 point gap between the 1st and 5th placed parties

What did the YouGov, Opinium and Survation polling say for June 2026?

June was a very eventful month in British politics. Andy Burnham won the most consequential UK parliamentary by-election for decades, in Makerfield, precipitating Keir Starmer’s announcement that he would step down as Prime Minister. On...

Posted 06 Jul 2026

It feels unlikely that we will see a return to two party politics any time soon

Polling Breakdown: What did the UK polls say in May 2026?

At the start of May, many eyes were looking towards the elections taking place across large areas of England, as well as in Scotland and Wales, for a sense of what it meant for party...

Posted 04 Jun 2026