THE HERALD believes that voters deserve to know what they are voting for when they enter the ballot box.

We spoke with Matt Chocqueel Mangan, founder of the website Vote for Policies to find out how our readers can find out more about the policies parties stand for and how, sometimes, the results of a little digging can be surprising.

“The story goes back to 2010,” Matt told us over an uncertain telephone line. “I did not know who to vote for. I was not new to voting, but I am not a political person. I do not have a background in politics at all, my work has been in digital media and web design.”

We asked how he found out about parties’ policies: “In 2010 I found that it was incredibly dull and arduous to find out what was actually in parties’ manifestos. Smaller parties, such as UKIP or the Greens tend to put everything out there. Larger parties are rather more cautious and release only what suits them; they tend to want to set a news agenda rather than release the whole thing online.

“It occurred to me that voters should know which policies suit them, or tally with their beliefs and wishes, without having to pick their way through a lot of badly written jargon.

“So, we set up the website Vote for Policies, which took the policies the parties announced and allowed people to work their way through them without being distracted by the party political stuff that surrounded them on the parties’ websites or in their manifestos.”

The reaction to Vote for Policies took Matt aback: “It just really took off. This is not an opinion poll, all the site does is ask people which policy they prefer and it then matches those against the party the policy belongs to; there is no hidden catch to this and no political agenda.

“People have been surprised by what the results have told them. Around a quarter of users have said they are more likely to vote as a result of comparing policies; almost two-thirds have been surprised which party most closely matches with their individual concerns; a significant number have changed their voting intentions.”

The focus is very much on the individual, explained Matt: “This sort of blind testing is a revealing and worthwhile experience. There are no distractions from political spin and politicians. It empowers the individual by enabling them to make informed choices based on their own reactions to party policies.

“By this stage in the 2010 election campaign, we had 20,000 unique responses. In relation to May 2015, 200,000 individuals have already taken part by using Vote for Policies.”

The Herald has linked up with Vote for Policies for the current General Election campaign.

Follow the link on the Heralds’ Facebook pages and websites and show us what matters to our readers. We will be asking the General Election candidates for their reactions to what is revealed when you vote for policies and not personalities.

https://voteforpolicies.org.uk/survey/herald