News from the New Party

Who are the real progressives?

As a coda to the recent spat between Lord Mandelson and George Osborne as to which of the main parties can most reliably claim the mantle of "the progressive party", the website Politics Home has helpfully commissioned a poll to find out what the people think:

Voters see the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, and Greens as more progressive than Labour.  However, over a third of voters (35%, the largest section of those interviewed) do not believe that any political party is progressive. 

In joint second place were the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, whom 22% of people saw as progressive. 

17% of people saw the Green party as progressive. 

In fifth place were Labour, seen as progressive by just 12% of voters. 

22% viewed another party as the most progressive...

The poll results also suggest that ‘progressive’ does not have strong liberal or left wing associations for a majority of voters. 

12% understand ‘progressive’ to mean ‘liberal’, and 7% to mean ‘left wing’. 

Instead, progressive is most commonly understood to mean ‘reforming’ (63%), ‘modernising’ (61%), and ‘enterprising’ (45%). 

This understanding was true of voters across the political spectrum.

This is an interesting finding as many politically savvy people generally assume that the term "progressive" is synonymous with left wing.  That is most certainly not how we understand the term: we regard our values as progressive because we consider them as being of universal application and above all, to be forward looking.  True progressives cannot be hampered by dogmatic adherence to rigid ideologies of the past or held back by misplaced attachment to outmoded traditions that have outlived their usefulness.

Progress means going forward, not looking back.