Lacking ambition: insights from three poverty audits of UK election manifestos (2015, 2017 and 2024)

Election campaigns make use of manifestos to provide a statement of intent if a political party is elected into government. This chapter draws upon the manifesto audits of Academics Stand Against Poverty UK to consider the prominence (or not) given to poverty alleviation within three of the last four sets of election manifestos in the UK. The audits utilise a particular methodology linked to the notion of flourishing to assess and score the policy proposals of various UK political parties. The analysis in this chapter suggests that there has been a shifting anti-poverty ambition among political parties, potentially a reflection of the shifting contexts of each election and changes in leadership. Additionally, the chapter comments on the impact of the audit and the challenges of promoting the analysis in an ever-changing social media context.