Articles by Doug Cowan

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Doug Cowan, Head of Digital

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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

Political parties shouldnt be personal vehicles for views of the super-rich

Minister: Put a donations cap in the Elections Bill

A 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

in a healthy democracy, no one should be able to buy a louder voice

First Past the Post lets people with fringe views slip through the net

Britain’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

First Past the Post doesn’t care how narrow or extreme a party’s agendas is

What can the UK learn from California’s Prop 50 gerrymandering plan?

A high-stakes fight is underway in the United States over redrawing the constituencies for the House of Representatives in Washington, DC. One flashpoint is California’s Proposition 50, a ballot measure that passed today. Voters have...

Posted 05 Nov 2025

Why single-party governments under First Past the Post fail to get things done

For all the talk of “strong government,” the reality of single-party rule under First Past the Post (FPTP) often looks anything but. Behind the scenes, these governments can be paralysed by internal battles, faction against...

Posted 29 Oct 2025

The real fights aren’t across the floor of the Commons but inside the ruling party itself

How First Past the Post helped apartheid take hold in South Africa

South Africa’s history shows how an electoral system can change everything. Sometimes, democracy’s biggest dangers aren’t coups or revolutions, but the quiet impact of the rules that decide who wins power. The First Past the...

Posted 14 Oct 2025

The danger of choosing a voting system that works for you today

We all have a party we lean toward. Maybe we’ve stuck with them for decades, maybe our loyalties shift with the times. But when it comes to how we elect our parliament, our choices shouldn’t...

Posted 08 Oct 2025

Distorting mirror of first past the post

How many votes did Labour get in 2024?

On election night in 2024, the headlines celebrated a Labour landslide. Crowds cheered, pundits predicted a bold new direction, and the idea of a strong majority government dominated the conversation. But as the confetti settled,...

Posted 25 Sep 2025

Labour won a commanding majority, even though two-thirds did not vote for the party

MPs vote to cut short First Past the Post’s imposition on Mayors

On 2 September 2025, the House of Commons held the second reading of the English Devolution & Community Empowerment Bill. While the bill covers many areas, one of the clauses is something we have been...

Posted 03 Sep 2025

This bill has the opportunity to not just repair the damage, but improve on what we had

Electoral Commission Chair calls for deeper citizenship education

At the Electoral Reform Society we have long called for the right to vote to be extended to 16 and 17 year olds. Far too many people don’t vote, and research has shown that 16...

Posted 26 Aug 2025