I’m sure you know that next Thursday, the UK is going to have a general election. And I’m also pretty sure that you’re sick of hearing about it all over the media.
Random interviews with MPs spewing out generic garbage litter the news channels. It’s worse than a playground squabble. Something that is as important as you helping to decide the future of the UK has, as usual, been trivialised into some X Factor-esque popularity contest.
I know what my views are, but like many people, I’m never really sure which political party best fits my beliefs. However, rather than doing what a lot of people do and not vote, or vote based on something they saw on TV or read in the paper one day, I wanted to analyse each party fairly to see which one I should put my X next to on 6th May.
That’s why I decided to make an Excel model to do the dirty work for me! By using party data for the 6 main national parties from the BBC election website, and a system of weighted averages, I have made a model which gives you an unbiased and completely objective analysis. I’ve stripped out the party names to help eliminate bias. By deciding which policy points you agree and disagree with (or don’t care about!), the model will generate a graph showing where the parties rank and which party best suits your views.
The model will take you a good hour or so to fill in, but I think that’s a reasonable investment of time considering the importance of the decision you will be making when voting. (Tip – if you only care about one or 2 policy areas, you can leave out filling in the others. This will save you a lot of time!)
Obviously, I have to mention that this model is intended to give you a good, unbiased indication of who you might be best off voting for. However, your voting decision is entirely down to you, so use the information in whichever way you desire. It really helped me, and I hope it will clear some of the mist of confusion that parties like to thrust upon us before an election.
To try the model for yourself, download the Excel file below and follow the instructions contained within. If you have any questions, pop me an email.
If you like it, spread the word – but please attribute the model to me. It took me quite a while to make. Thanks!