Sourced data, presented plainly

The standard

Every published figure carries its source. A value a source does not report is shown as “not reported”, never as zero and never filled in. Where a number is uncertain, the uncertainty is drawn alongside it. Where the data has a known limitation, that limitation is on the page with the figure.

What it covers

• Poll tracker

  Every published party-vote poll for the general election, as a sample-weighted trend with its uncertainty and a read against the 5% threshold.

• The pollsters

  Each organisation polling the election — how much it polls, which parties it reports, and how its figures compare with the field.

• Party funding

  Donations and loans to registered parties, from the Electoral Commission.

• Parliamentary expenses

  Quarterly travel and accommodation for members and ministers.

• Party positions

  How the parties have voted and what they have said, from Hansard and their own material.

How it is put together

Every dataset is pulled from its source by a script and stored as a plain data file. To change a number, the data changes — which appears as a dated, traceable record of what changed and when. There is no database and no server: the whole site is built ahead of time into static files, so what you read is exactly what was published, with nothing computed about you or logged in the background.

The workings behind the poll trend and its confidence band — including the constant that sets every band on the site, and the thirty years of election data it was derived from — are set out on the methodology page.