{"id":5755,"date":"2019-12-13T19:00:43","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T19:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.viewsoftheworld.net\/?p=5755"},"modified":"2019-12-15T10:53:47","modified_gmt":"2019-12-15T10:53:47","slug":"the-2019-uk-general-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.viewsoftheworld.net\/?p=5755","title":{"rendered":"The 2019 UK General Election"},"content":{"rendered":"

If the 2016 vote for Brexit was described as a political earthquake in the United Kingdom, then the 2019 General Election is the equivalent to the tsunami that followed this seismic event and swept over some of the deepest Labour heartlands in England. Political commentators spoke of a demolishment of the Labour party\u2019s \u2018red wall\u2019 as the results came in (although the \u2018wall\u2019 that may have once stood had already started to crumble in previous elections). Approaching the outcome of the General Election from a visual perspective puts such metaphors into a visual representation. The following map shows the outcome of this year’s general election – the fourth (and definitely final) of this decade – in three different cartographic visualisations:<\/p>\n

\"Map<\/a>
\n(click for larger version)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Shown on the maps are the respective winning party in each area. The map series itself compares a conventional (land area) map to two different types of cartograms:
\nThe hexagon cartogram in the middle is based on the idea of giving each constituency an equal representation in the map by using hexagon shapes for the constituencies. This gives a clearer picture of the composition of the new parliament, as the seats that were one determine the share of seats in Parliament, rather than a party’s proportional vote share.
\nThe gridded population cartogram<\/a> on the right hand side is using an equally distributed grid as a base and then resizes each grid cell according to the total number of people living in that space. Larger grid cells therefore show larger populations, while grid cells in the sparsely populated areas shrink accordingly. The last map gives the most honest picture when it comes to showing how people are represented politically (because constituencies have varying population sizes). It also allows comparing the more rural areas (with the smaller grid cells where the black lines almost converge) to the most densely populated regions (with the most blown up grid cells), seeing how rural versus urban voting compares in the country.<\/p>\n

After considerable political deadlock, this election was also meant to lead to a decisive outcome around the issue of Brexit that has loomed over British politics ever since the 2016 EU referendum<\/a>. With this being the second election since the referendum, a closer look at the changing political landscapes helps to better understand how this landslide victory for the Conservative Party emerged geographically. The following cartograms consider these changes through a more detailed look at how seats did (or did not) change hands:<\/p>\n

\"Map<\/a>
\n(click for larger version)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The different colours in this second map indicate where constituencies changed hands between the 2017 and 2019 election (using each candidate’s most recent political affiliation ahead of the election into account).
\nThe map series itself compares a conventional map to two different types of cartograms:
\nThe hexagon cartogram in the middle is based on the idea of giving each constituency an equal share in the map by using hexagon shapes for the constituencies. This gives a clearer picture of the composition of the new parliament, as the seats that were one determine the share of seats in Parliament, rather than a party’s proportional vote share.
\nThe gridded population cartogram<\/a> on the right hand side is using an equally distributed grid as a base and then resizes each grid cell according to the total number of people living in that space. Larger grid cells therefore show larger populations, while grid cells in the sparsely populated areas shrink accordingly. The last map gives the most honest picture when it comes to showing how people are represented politically (because constituencies have varying population sizes). It also allows comparing the more rural areas (with the smaller grid cells where the black lines almost converge) to the most densely populated regions (with the most blown up grid cells), seeing how rural versus urban voting compares in the country.<\/p>\n

A full cartographic analysis of this year’s General Election can be found in my contribution to the UK Election Analysis 2019<\/a> published by the Centre for the Study of Journalism, Culture & Community at Bournemouth University.<\/p>\n

The content on this page has been created by Benjamin Hennig. Please contact me<\/a> for further details on the terms of use.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If the 2016 vote for Brexit was described as a political earthquake in the United Kingdom, then the 2019 General Election is the equivalent to the tsunami that followed this seismic event and swept over some of the deepest Labour … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[515,96,15,310,212,31,103,36,413,211,461,47,95],"class_list":["post-5755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-election","category-maps","tag-brexit","tag-britain","tag-cartogram","tag-change","tag-conservative","tag-general-election","tag-geography","tag-gridded-cartogram","tag-hexagon","tag-labour","tag-maps","tag-politics","tag-uk"],"yoast_head":"\nThe 2019 UK General Election - Views of the World<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.viewsoftheworld.net\/?p=5755\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The 2019 UK General Election - 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