ABSTRACT
The ideological division between supporters of the Labour and Conservative parties in postwar British politics can be characterized as a left-right dimension juxtaposing more or less interventionist, redistributive principles and policies with those that stress instead the importance of a free market and low taxation (see Heath et al., 1994; Evans et al., 1996). By the time of the 1997 election, however, there was evidence of a decline in the extent of party polarization along this left-right dimension among both political elites (Budge, 1999; Norris, 1999; Webb and Farrell, 1999) and the electorate itself (Sanders, 1999) as 'New Labour' moved to a more centrist position. There was also evidence that Britain's relationship with the European Union had become an issue that provided an alternative basis of party support for at least part of the electorate - though without seriously challenging, at that time, the primacy of economic and redistributive concerns (Evans, 1999a). Since 1997, of course, we have seen the continued ascendancy of Labour, with its buoyant popularity culminating in a 'second landslide' (Norris 2001) in the 2001 election. The stage is thus set for a re-evaluation of the thesis presented in Critical Elections (Evans and Norris, 1999): did the changes observed in 1997 signal the start of a critical transformation of British electoral politics? Have we seen, in consequence, a significant change in the bases of support for the main British parties?
