The 2005 Manifestos: A Sense of Deja Vu?

The Manifesto Research Group, since its establishment in 1979, has analysed the main party manifestos after every British general election, so that a clear, over time picture of changing policy priorities has emerged. Other investigations have compared issue saliency within manifestos, giving the parties' "take" on the political situation in relation to voter perceptions of what the most important issues are. This article brings these two elements together, first in terms of mapping the most recent changes in right-left positioning of the parties and seeing how far policy estimates concerning economic matters, welfare and quality of life continue patterns set previously. Second, saliency rankings of "top" issues within the manifestos are contrasted with results from three opinion polls to establish whether the parties are using different policy agendas to attract support and how far these reflect public concerns. Third, the paper reports on how the three main parties see the role of manifestos. The article concludes that some changes in content have occurred since 2001 but these are neither new nor unexpected, creating a sense of "deja vu".