Articles by Doug Cowan

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Doug Cowan, Head of Digital

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Surprising Conservative leadership vote shows that voting systems matter

James Cleverly must have thought he was in with a chance of winning the leadership of the Conservative Party, in the lead, as he was, on the last vote of Conservative MPs. But, the ballots...

Posted 09 Oct 2024

Did a tactical voting blunder hit the Conservative leadership contest?

It should be a scandal that small changes in the vote result in outsize changes in Parliament

Two, rather similar, articles came out today on the likely impact of small swings in the vote on the results of the general election. In the Times, they identified 130,000 voters in 100 seats that...

Posted 03 Jul 2024

In 2017 533 extra votes in nine constituencies would have changed the result

What does a super-majority mean and is it something we should worry about?

In the last week, the current defence secretary, Grant Shapps, has been appearing in the news to warn about the supposed dangers of a Labour ‘super-majority’. He told Times Radio “You don’t want to have...

Posted 18 Jun 2024

Parliament can make or remove any law with a simple majority vote

TV Debates have become an important part of our elections, let’s do them right

The first election debate between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer will be on our TV screens tonight, at 9pm on ITV. We’ve already seen a debate between party leaders in Scotland (none of whom are...

Posted 04 Jun 2024

We shouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel for every election

Over 100 seats haven’t changed hands for 100 years or more

We often hear that politics is unpredictable, that anything can happen in the upcoming election – but the reality is that hundreds of seats across the country haven’t changed hands in decades. While the MP...

Posted 03 Jun 2024

Were you alive the last time your seat changed hands

England’s local elections show the warped world of First Past the Post

Local people are best placed to decide the priorities of their local government. But as we say today, voters in England and Wales have very little impact on who sits in their local council chambers....

Posted 03 May 2024

When the results don’t look anything like how we vote, how are we supposed to hold councils to account

Who invented the Single Transferable Vote?

The Electoral Reform Society has long held up the Single Transferable Vote as the gold standard for proportional representation. It’s a way of electing our representatives that produces a proportional chamber, and hands power to...

Posted 06 Mar 2024

We have long held up the Single Transferable Vote (STV) as the gold standard for proportional representation

Vote splitting trick won’t work with Scotland’s Single Transferable Vote

On March 7th voters in Hillhead in Glasgow will be heading to the polls for a council by-election. Among those standing are candidates from the Scottish Greens and Independent Green Voice (IGV) – plenty of...

Posted 04 Mar 2024

Independent Green Voice is far from what you might expect from the name

Change to London mayoral elections complicates thinking for independent candidates

Over the weekend The Sun reported on rumours that Paul Scully MP, the former Conservative Minister for London, was considering running as an independent candidate for London mayor. We can’t comment on whether these Tory...

Posted 05 Feb 2024

The Sun reported on rumours that Paul Scully MP, was considering running as an independent

Electoral Commission chair calls out government on voter ID and finance loopholes

In a recent, wide-ranging, interview with the Financial Times, John Pullinger, the chair of the Electoral Commission, expressed concerns about the government’s voter ID scheme and the threat to the Commission’s independence contained in the...

Posted 25 Jan 2024