By the Visual Journalism team, BBC News
The UK’s main parties are announcing their campaign promises ahead of the general election on 4 July.
Unsure who to vote for? This guide offers a summary of where parties stand on issues most important to voters.
Click on the drop-down list to select the nation, political parties and issues that interest you.
Most of the parties have launched their manifestos. We will update the guide in the coming days as the final parties outline their pledges.
A manifesto is the list of pledges parties make to voters, explaining what they would do if elected.
This interactive has been put together by the BBC’s Visual Journalism team, the BBC’s political research unit in London and BBC journalists in Belfast, Cardiff and Glasgow.
Its aim is to summarise where the parties stand on key topics to help voters make informed decisions at the ballot box.
How were the issues chosen?
We have selected issues highlighted in polling company Ipsos Mori’s Issues Index, a monthly survey that measures the things the public believe to be the most important facing the country.
We analysed surveys from the twelve months before the election was called and selected the issues based on their aggregate score over that period.
In some cases we have combined similar issues for simplicity. For example, “NHS, hospitals, healthcare and social care” are included under the one category of “NHS and care”.
“Democracy” was added as an issue on the editorial grounds that it help fulfil the BBC’s public service commitments.
How have parties been chosen and ordered?
In order for a party to be included in the guide it must be standing candidates in at least one sixth of seats in the nation it is campaigning in as well as meeting one of the following criteria:
- Had been represented by at least one MP when Parliament was dissolved in June 2024
- Has at least one elected representative in a national assembly
- Won more than 1% of the vote share in the previous general election, national assembly election or the 2019 European Parliament elections
Parties are ordered by their vote share in the 2019 general election – and then alphabetically.
You can see a full list of all parties standing at the general election here.
How are the policies selected and summarised?
This is an editorial process overseen by BBC journalists. All parties included in the guide have contacted by the BBC and given the opportunity to identify their key policies in each area.
What about issues that are devolved from the UK parliament?
Because of devolution, the UK parliament cannot rule on, or has limited powers over, some of the issues highlighted in the guide. For example, “health” is devolved to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Parties do still campaign locally on these devolved issues in the run up to a general election.
For this reason, the guide highlights issues that are devolved or partly devolved to acknowledge that these policies may not become law in that nation even if they are passed in Westminster.
Produced by Chris Clayton, Dominic Bailey, Tom Finn, Claire Diamond, Luke Sproule, Chris Andrews, Adrian Browne, Tomos Livingstone, Dorian Morgan, Peter Barnes, Lauren Tavriger, Oscar Bentley, Beta Yee, Zoe Bartholomew, Matthew Taylor, Preeti Vaghela, Adam Allen, Scott Jarvis, Grace Richardson, Assiz Pereira, Holly Frampton and Mike Hills.
