What are the alternatives to First Past the Post?Westminster’s First Past the Post system means we don’t get a parliament that fully represents the voting public. Millions of people can support one party and get a single MP, while a few hundred thousand...Posted 19 Jan 2023
The top 5 most-read ERS articles from 2022Every year we have a look through the stats to see which of our articles were the most popular with readers in the year coming to a close. So if you missed them the first...Posted 15 Dec 2022
Brown Commission reforms offer first blueprint for much-needed democratic renewalGordon Brown has now released A New Britain: Renewing our Democracy and Rebuilding our Economy – the findings of his Commission into how to repair our political system. In publishing this report, Keir Starmer is...Posted 06 Dec 2022
Life-time appointments to Lords should not be handed out as rewards for failureA seat in the House of Lords is a lifetime appointment to make our laws, not a gift to be handed out by a prime minister as they head out the door. Yet the prime...Posted 01 Nov 2022
Cash-strapped councils to spend £1.3 million on 40,000 mirrors as part of voter ID schemeA parliamentary question has revealed yet more details of the government’s expensive scheme to demand ID at polling stations. Luke Pollard MP asked the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities how many mirrors would...Posted 01 Nov 2022
We need to reform our voting system to end the chaos of First Past the PostAs Liz Truss prepares to leave Downing Street, it’s clear where stability lies in the UK. Far from providing ‘Strong and Stable Government’, Britain’s First Past the Post political system has given us three prime...Posted 21 Oct 2022
Labour Party conference backs proportional representationIn a historic vote, Labour Party Conference has voted for a manifesto commitment to proportional representation for general elections. This is a massive moment for democracy in the UK. Now all major parties, bar the...Posted 27 Sep 2022
The UK’s biggest union just passed a motion in support of proportional representationDelegates at UNISON’s National Delegate Conference have just backed a motion calling on the UK’s biggest union to ‘reject First Past the Post’ and for the adoption of PR for UK general elections. The vote,...Posted 17 Jun 2022
Voters’ views warped across England and Wales as First Past the Post holds back electionsElections happened across the UK yesterday, with polls in Northern Ireland Assembly and local elections for all of Scotland and Wales plus large parts of England. Voters in Northern Ireland and Scotland used fair, proportional...Posted 06 May 2022
The 2022 Elections Bill could open the floodgates on party fundingWe’ve spoken a lot about the danger of the Elections Bill, which returned to the House of Lords today. From wasting £180 million a year on an intrusive ID card scheme for voting, to hobbling...Posted 23 Feb 2022