Composition and context: Region and voting in Britain revisited during labour's 1990s' revival

Political scientists have argued that the widely-observed regional variations in British voting behaviour from the 1970s on, and especially in the 1980s, are statistical artefacts only: a properly-specified model incorporating the relevant characteristics and attitudes of voters would identify no significant, let alone substantial, inter-regional variations in party support. This paper contests that interpretation, and uses data from a large longitudinal panel of British adults to show that, even when individual characteristics and attitudes had been held constant substantial and significant inter-regional variations in party support remained. These variations were reduced between 1992 and 1995, however, as Conservative popularity slumped and Labour's support increased.