90% of seats on less than half the vote? That’s England’s local democracy With nearly all the 2023 local election results declared, the First Past the Post system used across England has once again failed to reflect the views of voters in who runs their local community. Rather... Posted 09 May 2023
Elections Cancelled: 90,000 denied any say in local elections Following the publication of candidate notices for the May 2023 English local elections, it is clear that the scourge of uncontested and guaranteed seats will once again limit the democratic choices of hundreds of thousands... Posted 02 May 2023
How are English local councils funded? While you might think that local councils are wholly funded by council tax, in fact, local government in England is funded by a combination of central government grants and local taxes. What are the problems... Posted 30 Mar 2022
What is a combined authority and what is a metro mayor? Local government in England comes in many different formats, unitary, district and county councils all cover different parts of the country. In recent years, mayoral combined authorities have become an established part of the English... Posted 24 Mar 2022
Democracy Made in England: Where Next for English Local Government? In the context of the changing nature of UK governance, England remains an anomaly. While the centres of power in the rest of the UK have shifted away from Westminster over the last two decades,... Posted 09 Mar 2022
New research reveals BME people severely under-represented on local councils New research has revealed a significant ‘representation gap’ when it comes to diversity at a local level. Posted 09 Jul 2020
England’s 2019 local elections – The places where around half of voters go unrepresented On 2 May, thousands of people were elected to serve as councillors in local authorities across England. While a lot of attention has been given to the overall performances of political parties and independent candidates, little scrutiny... Posted 13 May 2019
A chance to do Welsh local elections differently While the Wales Act’s passing earlier this year didn’t come without its challenges, the legislation does mean that a range of new powers will soon be devolved to Wales, including those over elections. This ultimately... Posted 11 Oct 2017