RateMyTory Frequently Asked Questions
What are the 10 criteria you are using to measure whether Tories are progressive or not?
Climate change, gay rights, inheritance tax, hunting ban, investment in public services, abortion, marriage and the couple’s tax allowance, immigration, Human Rights Act and House of Lords reform.
If you want to find out more about what we’re looking for in a candidate or want to contribute your own opinion, view the perfect progressive’s profile here.
Mr X/Ms Y doesn’t deserve this score – he/she’s much more/less progressive than that!
Really? Great! Tell us about it. If you can provide evidence of voting records, speeches, local media stories or just about anything that offers us an insight into Tory candidates then we want to know about it and will update their rating accordingly.
I’ve got some information on a candidate. How should I send you it?
Firstly, thanks for wanting to be part of RateMyTory. Each candidate’s page has a comment box at the bottom. Post your information there and remember to post a link to where we can verify the facts. We’ll moderate all comments every day and keep updating the scores to ensure an accurate picture of Cameron’s Conservatives.
How have you decided your scoring?
A combination of voting records, quotes said or written by the candidate and other information in the public domain. Simply put: 0 is bad and 5 is good, but politics isn’t black and white and the majority of candidates have scores somewhere in between. We’ve made sure to link to every quote, vote or piece of information we’ve used to judge the candidates so you can see our working.
If a candidate hasn’t voted or spoken enough publicly on an issue they will sometimes lack a score for certain criteria. These criteria won’t affect the overall rating. At the end of the process we average the scores available and give a Progressive Rating Percentage.
My MP has scored X%. Does this mean they are a good/bad MP?
We try to be as objective as possible when judging a candidate’s progressive credentials. As a rough guide any progressive rating under 30% is unprogressive whilst any score over 60% is increasingly progressive. You can see an average of all the rated candidates’ scores on the right hand sidebar.
Whether this makes the candidate a good or bad MP is up to you. Look over how your MP has voted and what they have said and ask whether you would like them to represent your views in parliament.
My local Tory candidate doesn’t have a score/any information on his/her page?
This election is notable for the vast influx of relatively unknown PPCs about whom there simply isn’t enough information. It’s part of the reason why we’re here.
Some candidates’ profiles are still being collated and will be uploaded to the website as soon as possible so watch this space. For others, if there isn’t enough data for us to give a score then you will see a question mark for now, but with your help we’ll keep our ears open and give a bonafide rating at the earliest possible opportunity.
How can I keep up to date with your scintillating news stories and features?
Where do we start! Ideally you can bookmark RateMyTory.org.uk and check back every day for the latest stories. However, we know how busy you are so why not let us do the hard work?
You can:
- add our RSS to your own feed
- sign up to our daily e-bulletin which includes all the day’s news and features and any major scoring amendments
- follow us on Twitter
- join our Facebook page
Can I link to your website or use information from it?
The internet was made for sharing, and most of the information we have based our research from comes from other websites also. Feel free to link to our website and our scores – just please make sure you give us the credit where it’s due. If you have any specific questions regarding the use of our data we’d appreciate you asking us directly via the email below.
How do I contact you?
Questions? Media? Affiliation and link exchange? You can email all queries to us at Rob.Macpherson@progressives.org.uk
Got any more questions? Ask us in the comment box below!
I think this is a great idea, but in order for people to rate their Conservative candidates / MPs, it would be really helpful if you provided links to their websites wherever possible. Are there any plans to extend it to other parties? I’m sure there are candidates from Labour and the Lib Dems who are equally worthy of closer scrutiny of their beliefs.
By: Tim Fearn on April 1
at 12:06
My Tory Candidate has no chance of winning.
Where is the page for my Lib dem and Labour candidate who are fighting it out?
I don’t believe either of them are progressive, so why the one-sided focus on Tories?
This is not an unbiased site and I resent the focus on only one party as if they are the only ones capable of forming a government.
Scaremongering of the highest order.
By: Bea on April 1
at 12:57
Voting to keep the abortion limit at 24 weeks does not make a person progressive… voting to reduce it to a level which does not see abortions being performed on a foetus which could survive is progressive.
I am a Labour supporter but I feel that this site, for several measures, uses your definition of progressive to judge the candidates unfairly… What makes your definition of progressive the one which is fair, right and correct?
By: John on April 2
at 11:25