Projected National Share (PNS) is a statistic used in British politics. It refers to the translation of local election results to reflect national party support in a future general election. PNS shows which party has won a local election. The numbers give an impression of how the political parties are faring if the entire country cast a local ballot. It can be calculated in different ways.
History.
BBC News has calculated PNS since 1982. They use key wards which are reflective of the country as a whole in order to calculate party share. Two academics at the University of Plymouth, Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, calculate National Equivalent share (NEV) using a different approach.
Author and peer Mark Pack, Baron Pack maintains a historical record named LocalBase of both sets of results.