Articles by Darren Hughes

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Politicians should stop presuming and start listening on Brexit

It is hard to turn on the TV now without one politician or another telling us what the ‘British people’ want from Brexit. On one side, one argues that only leaving the single market will...

Posted 12 Jan 2018

Voting patterns in the House of Lords rubbish claims of its independence

Article first published by Politics.co.uk. It is anticipated that Theresa May will appoint up to a dozen Tory peers this month – which could be joined by a handful of Labour members and some from the DUP. It is...

Posted 11 Jan 2018

Referendum spending is a murky world – when it should be crystal clear

Negotiations on the UK’s exit from the European Union will dominate much of the political agenda this year. But 18 months on from the Brexit referendum, questions are still being asked about whether campaigners played by...

Posted 08 Jan 2018

Political parties are too reliant on big donors – and it has to change

Huge swathes of the public believe big donors hold too much political sway – and yet again it has been revealed just how reliant parties are on the cash of very few. The Mirror today published research findings showing that 39% of...

Posted 05 Jan 2018

Ministers are ignoring the elephant in the room when it comes to boundaries

The government’s Minister for the Constitution has claimed that millions of voters living in oversized constituencies are being under-represented. Speaking about the current boundaries, Chris Skidmore MP said: “It is an affront to democracy that 27 million people are under-represented.” ...

Posted 03 Jan 2018

There’s a lobbying scandal brewing in the House of Lords

The House of Lords has long been a home for party donors and lobbyists. But now it turns out even those who have supposedly retired are taking advantage of the unelected House. As if the...

Posted 02 Jan 2018

From random results to Lords-a-claiming – 2017 and the Electoral Reform Society

Looking back on the past year, there’s a strong sense of achievement at the issues the ERS has been able to raise – and we are equipped with stronger arguments than ever for reform. It...

Posted 06 Dec 2017

The House of Lords is a rolling expenses scandal – now politicians must act

The past two years have not been good for the House of Lords. Despite legislation to expel those who commit crimes or fail to attend, there are still those who do very little yet continue...

Posted 21 Nov 2017

The proposed Lords reforms are sticking plaster politics: Peers are writing their own rules

We’re at a rare point in politics. There is almost a consensus on the need for change –to cut down the supersized House of Lords. At the end of this month, a key Lords committee...

Posted 19 Oct 2017

The public can unite on the big issues around Brexit: the Citizens’ Assembly showed how

Just a few days ago, a representative body of UK citizens came together to do something new: work across divides together to find a way forward on Brexit. Members of the Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit...

Posted 03 Oct 2017