House of Lords spends forty hours debating themselvesLast night at 10.20PM, the committee of the whole House of Lords on the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill was finally adjourned. There were five days of committee, close to 150 amendments put forward,...Posted 02 Apr 2025
It’s not just hereditary peers that are ‘hard to justify’ – It’s the whole unelected chamberBefore Labour won the 2024 general election, the Labour leader in the House of Lords hinted that if Labour were to take power, we could finally see an end to the 92 hereditary peers in...Posted 30 Mar 2025
Hereditary Peers: Thank you for your contribution, and goodnightLast night, the first debate of the Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill happened in the House of Commons. The Bill, if passed, will remove the remaining 92 Peers who sit in our House of Lords purely...Posted 16 Oct 2024
The real winner from votes at 16 is democracyWith our Labour government’s commitment to extending the franchise to 16- and 17-year-olds in their manifesto, many an argument has been levelled against the plan. Most arguments against measures that would improve our democracy are...Posted 27 Aug 2024
ERS in the Press: General Election editionChange. That was the driving message of Labour’s successful general election campaign, and change was very much on the agenda for the ERS Comms team (as far as the electoral system goes) as we’ve been...Posted 11 Jul 2024
ERS in the Press – Coverage we’ve secured in the GE campaignYou might have noticed that there’s a general election approaching. Whilst the date of the election may have taken us all a little by surprise, the ERS communications team were ready to go and making...Posted 25 Jun 2024
Could this be the last general election that excludes 16 and 17 year olds?At the Electoral Reform Society, we have long been advocates of extending the right to vote to 16 and 17-year-olds in general elections. So, we were pleased to see that, when asked on the campaign...Posted 29 May 2024
A future Labour government would be right to use Citizens’ AssembliesThis morning it was revealed in The Times that Sue Gray, Keir Starmer’s Chief of Staff and former leading Civil Servant, is considering the use of Citizens’ Assemblies. Gray made the comments by referring to...Posted 19 Feb 2024
ERS in the Press – January 2024Despite being one of our country’s shortest ever Prime Ministers Liz Truss dominated the headlines over the festive period. The ERS press team were ready and waiting to get our arguments around the House of...Posted 18 Jan 2024
The next ‘Portillo Moment’? Who could be at riskThe two large Conservative majorities overturned in last week’s by-elections have led to media speculation that even frontbenchers of the Government in ‘safe seats’ are at risk of their very own ‘Portillo moment’. The phrase...Posted 25 Oct 2023