Talk:2015 United Kingdom general election
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Many of these questions arise frequently on the talk page concerning the Next United Kingdom general election. To view an explanation to the answer, click the [show] link to the right of the question. Q1: Why have you listed the parties in this order in the infobox?
A1: An extensive process of discussion and narrowing-down of the available options culminated in this RfC, which concluded that the infobox should use the template {{Infobox election}}, and should display Labour, the Conservatives, the SNP and the Liberal Democrats. This should not be altered without altogether clear consensus on the talkpage. |
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Section on media coverage[edit]
I've added a section on media coverage of the election. There are lots of reliable sources on it and, as the media is considered to be 'importan[t] to democratic life' (IPPR report [2015], p. 30) and 'essential to democracy, and a democratic election is impossible without media' (ACE encyclopedia entry 'Media and elections'), I thought it would make a useful, interesting and important addition. I've also added two tables in the Endorsements section. The tables -- on which parties the main daily and Sunday newspapers endorsed -- are taken from the main article on endorsements during this election campaign. I've included them here because (1.), considering the importance of the media in democracy and the elections, I thought this would be useful and important to include directly in this article; and (2.), in my opinion, it makes the main part of the other article more readily available (whilst providing extra detail if people want to click through to the full article on endorsements), which makes this article read more easily without having to go to a different article (this is following the precedent of other sections of this article, which link to another, main article of the topic but also provide an overview/the most pertinent information: e.g., the sections on MPs not standing for re-election, Contesting political parties and candidates, Television debates, and Opinion polling). I hope these decisions and edits are OK. --Woofboy (talk) 23:19, 25 December 2018 (UTC)
Party use of social media in campaigns[edit]
The 2015 election was expected to be the 'social media election' (see, e.g., C. Byrne, 'Getting Engaged? The Relationship between Traditional, New Media, and the Electorate during the 2015 UK General Election' (Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Nov. 2015)). It would be good to see information included in this article about the parties' use of social media in their campaigning, and about the public's use of social media, too. --Woofboy (talk) 23:20, 26 December 2018 (UTC)
Merge from Carlisle principle[edit]
With this edit, I merged the text from the Carlisle principle article, which is now a redirect to the 'Constitutional affairs' section. Thanks, Amkilpatrick (talk) 15:43, 1 April 2021 (UTC)
UKIP?[edit]
Not a fan of the party at all. But given that they won a significant amount of votes and played a visible role in the media coverage of this election surely they should be included in the infobox? Or at least in the infobox for 2015 United Kingdom general election in England? --Theimmortalgodemperor (talk) 03:01, 10 September 2021 (UTC)
- Support - Continuing from some of the discussion held on a recent RfC inspired by the 2021 Canadian federal election's article's infobox, I think that UKIP certainly has crossed the threshold of noteworthiness to be included in the lead infobox for this article. AwesomeSaucer9 (talk) 22:39, 27 June 2023 (UTC)
- Agree (and have added data) - deciding which parties to include can be problematic: how about parties with >1 million votes? ... in which case add Greens, but N. Ireland parties gained more seats. Roy Bateman (talk) 07:19, 5 May 2024 (UTC)
- Support for UKIP inclusion. This was discussed back on its day and resulted in a divided outcome on whether UKIP should be in or not. Much has come to pass since then, and retrospectively it's fairly obvious that UKIP was very significant heading into this election and scored a very significant popular vote total (even if it did not secure any seat by virtue of the electoral system). Nine years later, the 2024 UK election may bring further stress to the view that parties securing zero seats but 10-15% of the share should not be added to infoboxes. Impru20talk 15:05, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
- Support per Impru20. — Czello (music) 15:07, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
- Oppose unless other parties that won equal number of seats are included. Pretty fatuous arguments above: which party had more media coverage is obviously a value judgement that depends on which media are included and what metric is used for degree of coverage. What was "significant" is again a value judgment: there's nothing
clear
about whether UKIP was significant and no argument is made above to support this notion. The idea of >1 million votes is not bad, especially given that those are very clear outliers (the next has <200k). Cambial — foliar❧ 15:18, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
Extended discussion on the !Oppose vote
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Yes, I am denying that. I deny it because it's a fact that the popular vote share is irrelevant. The purpose of a UK general election is to determine the constituent members of the house of commons. The only relevant factor that determines the constituent members is who wins the seats. The popular vote tally has no influence on the outcome. Cambial — foliar❧ 17:24, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
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- Support – receiving 12.6% of the vote makes UKIP notable in this election, regardless of how many seats the party actually won. A.D.Hope (talk) 19:00, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
- Support. Not a fan of UKIP by any means, but when I think of the 2015 election, I think of it as the UKIP election just due to how much they affected the outcome, and due to their high level of support directly leading to David Cameron's decision to call the Brexit referendum. They finished in second place in a vast number of seats. If we want people researching the election to have the clearest picture of the outcome upfront, I don't feel that seat count should be the only factor dictating who appears on the infobox. JHarlowR (talk) 01:09, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
- Oppose - UKIP won just a single seat in 2015, which is as clear cut an example of non-inclusion as I can find. If there were no other parties, then maybe based on their vote share, such as with NZ in '84, but infoboxes are arranged by their seat share, not vote share, and there are five other parties who won more seats than UKIP. Why exclude them but include UKIP? The four parties which have been consistently featured are perfectly fine for the key purpose of an infobox: at a glance which conveys key information of the election results (a tight Tory Majority, the Lib Dem implosion, SNP surge). BitterGiant (talk) 10:24, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
- In previous RfCs[1] on this topic, not only has it been established that having even one seat is grounds for inclusion, but that parties that win a substantial proportion of the popular vote but who haven't won a seat should be included. UKIP won a larger share of the popular vote than the SNP in this election.
- I strongly support the inclusion of UKIP. AwesomeSaucer9 (talk) 22:47, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
- Comment: I believe that whatever the decision is on inclusion, it should be applied consistently among other election pages. I will add that including the UKIP on the basis of the percentage of vote (which would suggest that percentage, not number of seats won) would seem to run counter to listing the SNP before the Lib Dems (the former won more seats, but the latter had a higher percentage of the vote).98.228.137.44 (talk) 00:39, 22 June 2024 (UTC)
- This discussion isn't about the ordering of parties, it's just about which parties should be included.
- However, I would agree that all parties that won a seat (or got a "substantial" share of the popular vote) should be included in the infobox. AwesomeSaucer9 (talk) 02:18, 22 June 2024 (UTC)
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