The Changing Electoral Map of England and Wales
The political tide may be going out on the Brexit realignment, but changes in the electoral geography of Britain are not going to go away...
The 2019 British general election saw a dramatic redrawing of the electoral map, with the Labour Party losing seats to the Conservatives in former heartlands in the North of England and Midlands. Yet this had been a long-term shift, with the opposite trend occurring in major cities and university towns, where Labour's support has been increasing. What has driven these changes in electoral geography? Why do they matter?
Our book offers what we hope is the definitive account of the changing electoral geography of England and Wales over the past half century. We argue that long-term trends in social and economic structure have significantly altered the spatial distribution of voters and, combined with changes in the parties' appeal to those voters, have led to a gradual, though recently accelerating, realignment of the geographical basis of electoral competition. These changes won’t go away with a large Labour victory in 2024 - the places where the party wins most heavily will be different from the places where it did well in 1997, just as the Conservative vote in 2019 looked very different from the majority it won in 1979.
The Changing Electoral Geography of England and Wales by Jamie Furlong and Will Jennings is published by Oxford University Press. You can order the paperback online at https://global.oup.com/academic/ with promotion code ASFLYQ6 to save 30%! Colour maps and charts included! Not all academic books are published in paperback so we are very fortunate that OUP have done so and for the production team being so efficient in enabling us to get the book out ahead of the election.
There are still a few places left for our launch event at the LSE on Monday 24th at 6pm. Sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-changing-electoral-map-of-england-and-wales-tickets-923275250127
Looks fascinating, congrats!