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We've had long discussions over target seat lists at previous elections. There is a concern that they are WP:SYNTHy. I was tempted to WP:PROD this. This is not a list of seats that parties are targetting. It's mainly a list of seats by marginality based on notional results calculated for the last election, with a few extra additions. It is unclear why certain lists are longer than others. Many of the lists are clearly preposterous: e.g. the Greens are definitely not targetting all those seats.
While I see some value in lists by marginality, it would be better if we could cite sources as to what the actual seats being targetted are. Bondegezou (talk) 08:52, 24 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
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– These are lists of seats with small majorities, calculated from previous results. They are not lists of any party's target seats, which are the seats a party chooses to focus its funds and energies into contesting, as shown by headlines such as "Labour increases Scottish target seats to 36", and by the lead of the 2024 list. Simply changing "target seats in the nnnn ... election" to "marginal seats in the nnnn ... election" would result in ambiguity as it would not be clear whether these were marginal seats before or after the said election, hency my suggested new title of "marginal seats before the nnnn .... election". There may be better alternatives. PamD 22:59, 23 June 2024 (UTC) — Relisting.Safari ScribeEdits!Talk!17:03, 1 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Graham11 'marginal' implies some percentage swing is required for a party to take the seat. It's defined this way in Australia. This page lists some seats that aren't identified by that metric (which, for the UK, would be arbitrary) with references (you can argue the quality or legitimacy of those), so the fact that there are seats not listed where smaller swings are required means those other listed seats can only be described as 'target' but not 'marginal'. YorkshireExpat (talk) 18:42, 27 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@YorkshireExpat marginal in this case would mean the seats with the smallest majorities going into an election based on the results of the previous election. They were the seats most likely to change hands. Moondragon21 (talk) 22:10, 26 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@YorkshireExpat Pure semantics; target seats, marginal seats, election battleground etc. As long as people are able to understand what the list actually is, it shouldn't really matter what the name is. I agree with you there is a grey area and that 'marginal' is not well defined in this context. In previous elections the lists have included fewer "marginal seats". I believe the purpose of these lists is to show where the election was won and lost, and which constituencies were outliers in the election. Moondragon21 (talk) 13:53, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@YorkshireExpat Move discussions can be about other things like controversies, specificity or spellings. Back to the original debate, there are pros and cons to "target" and "marginal". I agree that they shouldn't be used as synonyms as they are different. Moondragon21 (talk) 18:55, 28 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@YorkshireExpat I would say perhaps as even safe seats are marginal to a certain extent. It depends on the results too. Also the byelection win means that it may be considered a labour hold or a tory (gain back). Moondragon21 (talk) 14:37, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Moondragon21 If you're wanting the title to include 'before' I'm not sure it makes sense to say it depends on results. Also, you seem to be starting to argue that all seats are marginal. If they're all marginal why is it necessary to use that word at all? YorkshireExpat (talk) 19:48, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose: a marginal seat is not necessary the same as a target seat. Look at some of the target seats in this list - there is no way they can be described as marginal. If the title is changed, so is the premise of the list and the contents need serious revision. 81.132.105.141 (talk) 12:23, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Most of this article is just a list of marginal seats (that is, seats defined in terms of what swing on the 2019 result is required), but a few actual target seats have been tacked on. It's a mess. If you want lists of lots of seats, call them "marginal" and stick with that. If you want actual target seats, you need citations for everything. Bondegezou (talk) 14:57, 30 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Can whoever created this list update it to extend to 200 or even 250 for Labour and maybe 75 for Lib Dems just to catch the outliers on election night? Labour could win 450 seats, so this page might not cover the seats with the most dramatic swings. 81.106.46.246 (talk) 18:48, 24 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Hi. I did consider this but guessed that 150 for Labour and 50 for LDs were a safe end point as outliers will be highly difficult to predict. Adding more seats is a possibility either before or after the election though. Moondragon21 (talk) 21:22, 26 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Not if the name gets changed (unless you define 'marginal' as requiring a 25% swing)! YorkshireExpat (talk) 22:29, 29 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]