Election 2021 policy guide methodology
- Published
The Scotland and Wales guides to party policies have been put together by political editors and the BBC's visual journalism team.
Both will be updated as parties publish their election manifestos.
The aim is to summarise where the parties stand on the issues that are most important to voters - helping them to make an informed decision at the ballot box.
How were the policy guide issue areas chosen?
The policy areas featured in the guides were selected using polling data on what the public consider to be the most important issues facing the electorate.
Some issues have been grouped together under short titles for simplicity eg NHS, hospitals, healthcare and social care are included under the headline area of "NHS and Care". Inequality, poverty, unemployment, pensions and benefits are covered in the "Work and Benefits" category.
How have parties been chosen and ordered?
All larger parties in both nations are included and smaller parties will be added after close of nominations, if they pass an inclusion threshold.
Scotland: Parties will be included if standing in at least one sixth of the total seats up for election in Scotland (ie 22 constituency seats) or fielding at least four candidates in all eight regional lists.
Wales: Parties will be included if standing in at least one sixth of the total seats up for election in Wales (ie 10 constituency seats) or fielding at least four candidates in all five regional lists.
Parties are listed in order of size in each parliament at dissolution.
Where a policy is not specified after a party's manifesto launch, the guide will indicate "policy not available".
All parties standing in the election at close of nominations will have a link to their website on the BBC news website.
How are the policies selected and summarised?
This is an editorial process overseen by BBC journalists.
All parties included in the guide have contacted by the BBC in order to help identify their key policies ahead of the manifesto launches.
What issues are devolved to national parliaments?
Devolution means that elected bodies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have powers over a wide range of policy areas. You can find out more about those in our guide to how devolution works.
What are the parties promising you?
Use our concise manifesto guide to compare where the parties stand on key issues like Covid-19, the economy and the environment.
