My Political Compass

Having read Iain's post on his political compass I thought I would give it a go by trying the UK Political Compass Test. The following is where it places some of the political parties in the UK:

I have taken the test and beforehand I was pretty confident that I would come out around about the centre of the left/right axis and about half way down the Libertarian axis which would have put me pretty close to my party, the Lib Dems. This was my actual result:

This puts me a lot closer to the Green Party! I do have quite a lot of "green" views which might explain this. I was surprised at how left wing I seem to be though. I was brought up in a pretty left-wing environment with my parents, grandparents and other relatives all stalwart supporters of Labour (when they were actually socialist) but I thought that I had moved a lot more to the centre on many issues. It just goes to show how much your upbringing affects your views on things even subconsciously! I still think that this test has placed me too far left though.

Anyway, I am vindicated in my view that the Lib Dems are the closest of the main parties to my views as I had suspected and my libertarian credentials are firmly intact.

One final thought here - it would be interesting to revisit the top chart in a few years if Labour end up in opposition to see where they are placed then. I am certain that they will move more left-wing and less authoritarian.