Religion and Party Choice

Abstract

This chapter looks in detail at the historical associations between religious groups and support for political parties in the post-war period. Throughout it mainly focuses on support for the two major parties in post-war British politics – Conservative and Labour – but also looks at support for the third party: the Liberal Party up to the 1970s, its 1980s alliance with the SDP, and its successor from 1988, the Liberal Democrats.¹ The relationship between religious groups and political parties represents one of the key pathways through which religion can affect politics. Heath et al. (1993a: 50) observe that:

[M]embers of particular religions or denominations may nonetheless continue to identify with and support specific political parties, perhaps as a result of longstanding loyalties or associations… In this sense the persistence of religious cleavages in contemporary political behaviour may be a relic of past political controversies.