“This will tell you where to place your vote tactically to have the best chance of voting against the Conservative incumbent or beating their Conservative challenger,” says the group’s chief executive, Naomi Smith.
Smith says much of the analysis will be driven by sophisticated multi-level regression (MRP) surveys. The group, she said, plans to conduct a major investigation and provide its recommendations as close to Election Day as possible, while allowing ample time for mail-in voters to get advice.
But the campaign manager admits they will also inject human shots. “When there is an incumbent that we would define as a progressive MP, they will get the recommendation rather than what the data might say,” Smith says.
“Deep-rooted problems”
Best for Britain is just one of several campaigns that will launch their own tactical voting tools in the run-up to this year’s vote. Expect major ad campaigns and media voices like former TV host turned anti-corruption warrior Carol Vorderman to be deployed to try to raise awareness of the practice.
Yet some see the push for tactical voting as a depressing sign of how Britain’s first-past-the-post electoral system can force voters to make choices they would not normally want to make.
Jess Garland, of campaign group Electoral Reform Society, says the practice reveals “deep-rooted problems” in the way the UK chooses governments. “Voting should be about choosing the candidate you most agree with rather than worrying about who has a realistic chance of winning,” she says.
Politices
