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Researchers found voters would be close to 50% more likely to ‘Like’ parties if no one else could see it.

In a poll of more than 220 UK adults between 18 and 38, ‘Liking’ the UK’s Conservative Party  on Facebook was found to cause up to 20% more anxiety than showing support for the Labour Party.

Supporters of both parties said they thought ‘Liking’ the Conservatives would make them 30% less desirable to their friends, than if they showed support for Labour’s page.

There are currently close to 30 million active Facebook users in the UK.

In 2015, the Conservative Party secured 11.3 million votes but had just 450,000 ‘Likes’ on Facebook. Meanwhile the Labour Party secured 9.3 million votes, but only had 300,000 ‘Likes’.

The UK’s Royal Family meanwhile have more than 3 million ‘Likes’

The research suggests a ‘Secret Like’ could be a powerful new way of improving political engagement through the social platform.

The research was carried out by University of Edinburgh Business School and the universities of Bath, Swansea and Birmingham.

Dr Ben Marder, Lecturer in Marketing at University of Edinburgh Business School, said:

“Despite the benefits of engaging on social media, and how easy it has become to show support, UK political parties receive far fewer Facebook ‘Likes’ than you’d expect based on polling data.”

“Our research suggests people’s anxiety about presenting their political views to friends, family and co-workers on the social networking site is behind this gap.

“There is now a growing argument to offer a ‘Secret Like’ function to allow social media users to engage with political parties and other divisive brands without worrying about other people’s opinions.”

The findings of the study are in the Journal .