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I’m at @psaepop.bsky.social #EPOP2026 in Liverpool for the next few days, presenting papers on: 1. The bloc structure of British voting behaviour (Friday 14:10-15:40, LT 3) 2. The urban-rural divide in British politics (16:00-17:30, Flex 1) Quick summaries of both below ⬇️

My first paper argues that blocs have long structured voter perceptions of where the parties stand on different issues and how they feel about them (but this blociness has got stronger post-Brexit), and that changes in party viability activated the blocs in terms of voting behaviour in 2024.

The second uses travel time data to classify places into an urban-rural typology, and using redistricted election and census data 1970-2024, argues that the rising urban-rural divide is driven by the activation of demographic differences between these types of places, not changing composition.