Articles by Darren Hughes

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Revealed: How mandatory voter ID risks locking out legitimate voters

Representative democracies rely on people being able to participate in free and fair elections. That is why each time an election comes around the Electoral Reform Society and likeminded campaigners encourage as many people as...

Posted 30 Apr 2018

What can be drawn from the House of Lords ‘abolition’ petition and other options for reform

The House of Lords is a centuries-old institution of British politics which has outlived many others and which, to this day, plays an active role in crafting the laws of the land. But in its...

Posted 27 Apr 2018

Four reasons why trade unionists are backing a shake-up of Westminster’s political system

Today is an important milestone in the broad campaign for political reform: the movement has won fresh civil society support. A new report from campaigners ‘Politics For The Many’ is calling for a shift in the...

Posted 16 Apr 2018

More votes but fewer seats? Surely you’re joking?

Imagine if at the next General Election one party received the most votes, but another – with fewer votes – returned more MPs. It sounds wholly unfair, undemocratic and absurd. But that is exactly what...

Posted 05 Mar 2018

The plan to cut MPs looks suspiciously like a power grab

Are we witnessing a power grab? Six months ago, reports suggested that the Prime Minister had dropped plans to force through a cut in MPs, a cut linked with the ongoing review of constituency boundaries....

Posted 20 Feb 2018

May has dropped the new Lords appointments for now. Here’s what must happen next

For months now, there has been widespread speculation that new appointments to the House of Lords were imminent. The second chamber – already overflowing with nearly 800 peers – was to welcome yet more former...

Posted 16 Feb 2018

There is no room left in the House of Lords and no appetite for yet more peers

Whether it’s a restaurant, a stadium, or your belly – when something is full, logic determines you stop adding to it. This basic principle should be applied to the House of Lords, but it isn’t....

Posted 14 Feb 2018

Why money still rules the roost in British Politics

If ever there was a story which revealed the disproportionate influence exerted by big party donors, it was the on the front page of The Times on Tuesday. The article set out what has been...

Posted 31 Jan 2018

How we vote has to change if our voices are to be heard

It came as no surprise this week that the 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer revealed nearly three in five people (57%) in the UK feel their views are not being represented in British politics. It is the inevitable consequence...

Posted 24 Jan 2018

Survey results add weight to argument for Votes at 16

When reformers argue in favour of extending the vote to 16 and 17-year-olds, they often do so by stating what other things those within that bracket are already doing (paying taxes, driving etc.) For many people these arguments will ring true – but for...

Posted 22 Jan 2018