Local election delays: It’s unacceptable to treat voters like a bureaucratic inconvenienceElections are a crucial part of the democratic process. Citizens have the right to expect a regular opportunity to express a view about who should exercise power in their name, at all levels of government....Posted 22 Jan 2026
Business leaders make the case for electoral reformWe saw a significant intervention in the debate around electoral reform last week. More than 20 business leaders, including the chairman of the Virgin Group, Peter Norris, called for Westminster to scrap the failing First...Posted 19 Jan 2026
British public strongly back caps on donations to political partiesPolling published in the last few weeks reveals that the British public are worried about the influence of money in politics, with a majority wanting to see the introduction of caps on donations to political parties. A Survation poll, conducted between 9-11...Posted 13 Jan 2026
The top 5 most-read ERS articles from 2025As the year draws to an end, we’ve had a look through the stats to see which of our articles were the most popular with you, our supporters. So if you missed them the first...Posted 17 Dec 2025
Latest peerages mean government has replaced the hereditary peers – before they’ve even left the LordsKeir Starmer himself not long ago described the wholly unelected and grossly bloated House of Lords as ‘indefensible’. Nothing has changed since then so it was deeply disappointing to see even more peers being stuffed...Posted 11 Dec 2025
How First Past the Post turns politics into tribal warfarePoll after poll and headline after headline in the U.K may leave you with the impression of a country more divided than ever. This is never more obvious than in the seemingly daily polling notifications....Posted 10 Dec 2025
Legislative battles are renewing the focus on Westminster’s unelected upper chamberA common argument from defenders of the unelected Lords is that ministers should dedicate the entirety of their time to bread and butter policies that more immediately impact voters. The implicit basis here is that...Posted 04 Dec 2025
We need a donation cap, but how much should it be?In the UK today, there is still no legal limit on how much a single donor can give to a political party each year. That simple fact shapes our politics in profound ways. When unlimited...Posted 04 Dec 2025
Minister: Put a donations cap in the Elections BillA million pounds here, a few hundred thousand there. Life-changing sums for most of us. Yet in the world of political finance, these are the figures some individuals can casually drop into party coffers. It...Posted 19 Nov 2025
First Past the Post lets people with fringe views slip through the netBritain’s First Past the Post system was designed for a two-party age. One that pretty much everyone agrees we no longer live in. Yet even when most people voted for one of the two big...Posted 13 Nov 2025