GAINING ON THE SWINGS - THE CHANGING GEOGRAPHY OF THE FLOW-OF-THE-VOTE AND GOVERNMENT FORTUNES IN BRITISH GENERAL-ELECTIONS, 1979-1992

The results of British elections during the 1980s produced a political ly polarized country, with the Labour Party increasingly thrown back o n support in the urban industrial areas of the north, and the Conserva tives making gains throughout much of the south. The first general ele ction of the 1990s is investigated to see whether this trend has conti nued into the new decade. Analysis of the constituency flow-of-the-vot e suggests that Britain is less polarized in the 1990s than in the 198 0s, but that the electoral geography of the country still favours the Conservatives.