Telegraph.co.uk plans to build political database beyond election

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Telegraph.co.uk's new political search tool and database, launched in time for the general election, is to be developed further after 6 May.

"Very importantly, this is not a one-off for the election. It will live on and evolve afterwards," Telegraph.co.uk editor Marcus Warren told Journalism.co.uk.

As Journalism.co.uk reported on Tuesday , the political database allows users to search by constituency or candidate using its interactive map or search box.

Candidate pages, where relevant, link to the Telegraph's extensive MPs' expenses files and parliamentary allowance pages. An advanced search tool, powered by information visualisation company iBlick , allows users to filter parliamentary candidates by specific factors, such as type of school, or even the name of school.

A swingometer shows you which seats will change for a specified swing. Another swing feature allows you to see the percentage shift required for a change of MP from the 2005 results.

On constituency advanced search you can see where parties have picked their battlegrounds, which can be further narrowed by retiring or defending MP.

More data is being added and entries for all sitting MPs who are standing on 6 May should be completed today, said Marcus Warren.

"We have around 2,000 entries already done and we are adding more every day," he said. "Once nominations are in, every candidate will have a presence on the relevant constituency page.

"We contacted each party which contested last year's European elections and asked them to help with compiling the database.

"Mentioning no names, some did not respond. We did the research anyway. But some of their candidates are now in touch, asking why they do not feature."

Database development

Warren said that the Telegraph hope to improve the site in light of user feedback.

He hopes that people will use the database to research their constituency more thoroughly. "It also provides an extraordinarily detailed insight into who the candidates really are, not just in one seat but across the country as a whole," he said.

"If you want to compare the backgrounds of any set of candidates, in your seat, from a single party, region, age group, or whatever, you can. And by detailed insight we mean not just what sort of school they went to, but which individual school they were educated at, for example."

Another possibility would be releasing the data in more usable formats for developers, he added. "That is certainly something we could look at after 6 May."