Mile End Institute partners with British Election Study on new Candidate Study

The British Election Study has tracked the attitudes and behaviour of British voters at every general election since 1964, providing a unique record of electoral behaviour and political change.

From 2027, the BES will be led by Royal Holloway, University of London, alongside King’s College London and the University of Manchester, following a £4.9 million award from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

The new British Election Study will now, for the first time, also include a Candidate Study, in partnership with the Mile End Institute at Queen Mary University of London and the Electoral Commission.

Dr Sofia Collignon, Director of the Mile End Institute at Queen Mary University of London, said:

“I have been involved in running Candidate Studies for more than ten years. They are one of the best ways to understand who represents us, including candidates’ motivations, experiences and backgrounds. Bringing the Candidate Study into the BES creates a unique opportunity to compare the behaviour and experiences of political elites with those of voters, giving us a fuller picture of representation and electoral politics. It also safeguards the future of these important studies.”

Professor Maria Sobolewska, BES Co-Investigator at the University of Manchester, said:

“The British Election Study has always been about representation, understanding how different communities across Britain engage with democracy. This new award lets us go further: to study the candidates who stand before them, enabling the BES to capture a fuller picture of the electoral process, both voters and those who seek to represent them.”

Candidate Studies have been running in Britain since 2015, but many have been conducted without reliable research funding. Bringing the Candidate Study into the BES will help ensure long-term funding and continuity for this research, enabling researchers to build a longer-term understanding of the people who stand for election.