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BRITAIN'S PARTY POLITICS(CNN) -- British voters have two main party choices, the Conservatives to the right and Labour to the left, along with a plethora of smaller viable and fringe party options.
As the revamped "New Labour" party shakes old socialist habits and the tenured Conservatives try to loosen up to hold on, themes in their platforms overlap.
Both want to get tough on crime, improve education, the economy and health care, put welfare recipients to work and relieve taxes in some way. Predictably, the Conservatives emphasize their record and Labour advocates change, and there some differences emerge.
For example, as The Economist notes, both sides talk of the possibility of joining a single European currency after holding a public referendum. The Conservatives approach this from an anti-integration position, while for Labour it is less a question of sovereignty than economic pragmatism.
The Conservatives promise tax breaks for families, while Labour pledges no increase in personal income taxes. The Conservatives want to find ways to protect the public from destabilizing strikes in essential services. Labour calls for a national minimum wage.
As the Conservatives emphasize unity and sovereignty, Labour proposes a separate Parliament in Scotland, an assembly for Wales and the abolition of hereditary peers' voting rights in the House of Lords.
Then there are the Liberal Democrats, considerably behind the main two in numbers but the leading smaller party. They want, among other things, a written constitution and Bill of Rights, parliaments in Scotland and Wales and British leadership in European integration.
Finally, passing reference must be made to Britain's colorful tradition of fringe parties.
These include the Monster Raving Loony Party, which wants to tow the islands south for better weather, and the Rainbow Coalition, which envisions a country free of taxes and money. If only they would join forces.
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