Study from Fellow examines radical changes in UK political landscape

Professor David Sanders, FBA, has published a paper in the Journal of the British Academy (volume 5, pp. 91-124)  - a paper which examines the main changes that have taken place in recent decades within the UK party political system.

Professor Sanders’ paper - The UK's changing party system: The prospects for a party realignment at Westminster -  focuses on the decline of party identification and class-based voting, and the unintended consequences of decisions made by political elites. It also analyses the fragmentation of contemporary UK political opinion and describes the emergence of a new set of ‘political tribes’ that cut across old left–right party loyalties, taking particular note of the growth of authoritarian populism sentiment.

It concludes that a major realignment of the UK party system is already underway, and that the changes set in motion by past elite decisions and changing public perceptions are likely to continue.