The policies I went for were :
A1/C1/A5/C5 Controlling inflation
A1/A5 Privatisation
B5 Stronger regulation of business and industry
C5 National minimum wage
C1 Improve industrial relations
A1 Increase pay differentials
C5/B5 Reduce homelessness
C1 Return to full employment
A5/C5 Reform business rates to help small businesses
A1/A5 Increase home ownership
C5 Increase spending on patient care in the NHS
C5 End the internal market in the NHS
C5 Tough quality targets for hospitals
C1/C5 Training for the young and long term unemployed
A1 Raising the standards of children's education
B5 Support special needs education
C5/B5 Cut class sizes to 30 or under for 5, 6 and 7 year olds
B5 Improve adult education
A5 More freedom to schools to develop their own character
C5/B5 Increase spending on education
A5/B5/C5 Greater measures on school achievement
C1 Legislation to protect individual rights
C1/A5 Equality for men/women
C1 Equality for minority groups
A1/A5 Reduce the number of people on benefits
A1 Control the powers of trade unions
C1 Sustain democracy in the workplace
B1 Parliamentary reform for an open, accountable Government
C5 End the hereditary principle in the House of Lords
A1 To uphold Parliament and the rule of law
C5 Ban all handguns
B5 More police officers
A5 Further punishment for juvenile offenders
C5 Half the time it takes for juvenile offenders to get to court
B1/C1/C5 Devolution of powers in the UK to a local level
C5 Devolved powers to Scotland and Wales
B1 Electoral reform for representive Government
A1 To strengthen Britain's defences
C1 Disarmament of the UK
C5 Strong defence through NATO
C1 Foreign aid to alleviate poverty
A5 Argue for a more flexible Europe
C1 Closer EU unity
A5 Tighter standards on vehicle emissions
C5 Environmental sustainability
B5 Tackle media power concentration
A = Conservatives 1 = 1979 elections
B = Liberal Democrats 2 = 1997 elections
C = Labour
I have put these on the side so that when I come to looking at the response from people when I come to looking at part 1 of my research plan: proving that their policies have changed, I can use this as some evidence towards whether it has or not.
However, for this part of my research the questionnaire will be purely to see what people regard as left and right so that my own political ideas don't sway it and it is fair. When putting together the questionnairre for people I will take away the numbers and letters so that they do not try and analyse them and guess what they mean, as this may affect how they answer it. I will put a scale at the top asking them where they would mark themselves on the left and right scale politically. Then, when they have filled out the questionnairre, for example if they thought themselves to be left, I would put a line down the middle of their responses and that would be what was central to them. Next to each policy there will be a scale will 15 points on. A scale with 10 means they may lean towards a specific number a lot and so a 15 point scale will mean they don't pay so much attention to that either.
Further, the top of the questionnairre will explain what the questionnaire is and what it is for, that it is confidential and instructions on how to fill it out.
