The Who Should I Vote For test
OK, a lot of my friends had been getting similar results, and the Labour support was minor to negative in most, so I decided to run an analysis. A friend had suggested that it appeared to have a LibDem bias in the policies it selected. It appears that a) he's right and b) it also appears to have an anti-Labour bias.

I've put a Tab Delimited Text file up on my storage site here:
http://www.fuzzyduck.org/politics/whovotetest.txt (for those not used to TDT files, open with a spreadsheet or database programme like excell, and re-display the columns. Excells filters then let you choose parties and their preferences).

Essentially, many of the policies chosen are popular (or are supposed to be) LibDem policies. But the Labour policies chosen are not that popular, and not what they're really campaigning on. UKIP gets its two main issues easily highlighted at the top (for those curious, if you put in a neutral result for the two Europe Qs, but are opposed to, for example, ID cards, you're likely to show a soft positive for UKIP. Tories also get a number of their headline policies.

But, in order to support Labour policies, you need to be in favour of the following:

• The UK should sign up to the European constitution


• UK citizens should be required to possess an ID card containing biometric data


• Police should be able to detain terror suspects under house arrest indefinitely without trial


• The UK was right to go to war in Iraq


• UK troops should remain in Iraq for as long as is necessary to ensure a stable regime


• The minimum wage should continue to be increased at above the rate of inflation


• Maintenance grants should be introduced for students from low-income families

None of these are really issues Labour is campaigning on.

Alternately, the LibDem policies it allows you to support are:

• The UK should sign up to the European constitution


• The UK should join the Euro


• People earning over £100k pa should be taxed at 50% to fund public services


• The minimum wage should continue to be increased at above the rate of inflation


• Council Tax should be replaced by a local income tax


• Over 75s should receive a guaranteed pension irrespective of National Insurance contributions they have made


• Smoking should be banned in public places


• Long-term residential care for the elderly should be free
  University tuition fees should be abolished


• Maintenance grants should be introduced for students from low-income families


• Asylum seekers should be allowed to seek work so that they don't rely on state benefits


• Fuel duty and vehicle excise duty should be replaced with a national system of road charging

I've emboldened the policies the LibDems are specifically campaigning on.

So, the test, while fun, is unlikely to show you as a Labour supporter, and is very likely, if you're on the "left" to show you as a LibDem; 3 of Labour's 7 positive areas are also LibDem areas.

Is this a problem? Not if, like me, you're actively out campaigning for the LibDems. But if you want an impartial way of finding out who you should go for, one that allows for choices on all policy issues should possibly be chosen.