So much for the libertarian right. More people now associate the Labour Party with freedom than the Tories, according to a new report.

The survey from Dr Frank Luntz, a leading American pollster and expert on political language and communication, published by the Centre for Policy Studies, showed that 28 per cent of respondents associated the Labour Party with freedom, whereas only 20 per cent associated the Conservatives with freedom. This is despite Tory voters regarding freedom more importantly than Labour voters. 

This shows a startling disconnect between what Tory voters value and what they feel the party is actually delivering. 

The survey mapped the British public’s attitudes to the Big Six national priorities: freedom, fairness, equality, prosperity and opportunity. 

Dishearteningly, it found party polarisation on nearly every issue. For example, Conservative voters valued freedom and security above all else, whereas Labour voters valued equality and fairness. 

On a positive note, it found that a majority of Britons think their own country is the freest in the world with 86 per cent regarding freedom as very important to them. However, unlike in the US, people in Britain are less interested in a theoretical, more absolutist view of freedom for its own sake and instead value freedom over their own decisions.

The research also made clear that there is a distinct generational divide in attitudes towards freedom with younger voters caring less about freedom, prosperity and security than older generations.

Conservative voters were more likely to feel that their freedom was most threatened by crime, antisocial behaviour and migration whereas Labour voters thought their freedom was more likely to be jeopardised by crooked politicians and corrupt bureaucrats. 

One of the starker points of disagreement based on voting preferences was on trust in institutions to provide freedom to citizens. Sixty-three per cent of Conservative voters said that the government gave freedom while 37 per cent thought the government took it away. Labour voters said almost the reverse with 62 per cent questioning the government’s record on freedom. 

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