New data published today as part of Survation’s ongoing partnership with Royal Holloway University of London and with support from UK in a Changing Europe reveals the ideological positions of MPs in the current parliament. 

The data, developed by Prof Chris Hanretty and PhD candidate Vasil Lazarov from Royal Holloway, contains estimates of the ideological positions of 614 British MPs on a left-right economic dimension derived from a survey of over a thousand local councillors who were asked to compare two local MPs at a time. These responses were subsequently modelled to estimate the position of each MP relative to others.

Interactive comparisons between individual MPs, an MP with their party and with the whole commons, are available at www.mpsleftright.co.uk.

The left-right ordering of parties shows that MPs from Reform UK form the most right-wing party, while the Green Party is the most left-wing in the current parliament. 

The Labour party contains the widest range of MPs positions, spanning from the most left-wing MP, to some overlapping ideologically with Conservative MPs. However, while it has some outlying MPs to the extreme and the centre, the vast majority of Labour MPs are clustered around the average of the party.

Interestingly, both party leaders buck their party’s trend: Keir Starmer sits to the right of the average Labour MP, while Kemi Badenoch is further to the right than the typical Conservative MP:

– Prime Minister Keir Starmer is estimated to be to the right of the average (median) MP in the Labour party with a score of 47 (on a scale of 0-100), compared to a score of 40 for the median Labour MP. 

– The PM also falls to the right of the median MP (score of 42) when compared with the whole commons.

– The leader of the opposition, Kemi Badenoch is also to the right of the average MP from her party, with a score of 75 compared to 67 for the median Conservative MP. 

Prof. Chris Hanretty, one of the researchers involved in the project, said that the results “show a paradox. There’s a huge left-wing majority in this Parliament, but both parties’ leaders are drawn from the right wing of their parties – and at the moment seem to be paying more attention to developments on the right”. 

The estimates reveal that the most left-wing MPs are Nadia Whittome (Nottingham East, Lab), Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Clapham and Brixton Hill, Lab), and Diane Abbott (Hackney North and Stoke Newington, Lab). 

The most right-wing MPs in the current parliament are Suella Braverman (Fareham and Waterlooville, Con), Iain Duncan Smith (Chingford and Woodford Green, Con) and Rupert Lowe (Great Yarmouth, Reform UK).

As the estimates portray relative estimates to the other MPs, those who are in the middle of the distribution of all MPs in the table below are more likely to be to the left than the absolute centre given the scale of Labour’s victory.

These findings not only provide a clearer picture of MPs’ ideological spread but also raise questions about how leadership dynamics influence party direction and policy-making in a parliament dominated by the left. Our estimates should prove useful to researchers interested in parliamentary representation in the United Kingdom and more generally.

Interactive comparisons between individual MPs, their party, and the entire House of Commons are available at www.mpsleftright.co.uk where you can also download the full data.

________________________________________

If you are interested in commissioning polling or to learn more about Survation’s research capabilities, please contact John Gibb on 020 3818 9661, email researchteam@survation.com or visit our services page.

For press enquiries, please call 0203 818 9661 or email media@survation.com

Survation. is an MRS company partner, a member of the British Polling Council and abides by their rules. To find out more about Survation’s services, please visit our services page.

You can sign up to our press release list here. Follow Survation on Bluesky: @survation.bsky.social and X: @Survation