Democracy Made in England: Where Next for English Local Government?In the context of the changing nature of UK governance, England remains an anomaly. While the centres of power in the rest of the UK have shifted away from Westminster over the last two decades,...Posted 09 Mar 2022
Expensive Voter ID scheme is neither necessary nor proportionateThe UK government’s Election Bill containing controversial Voter ID provisions is progressing with haste through parliament this month, despite significant alarm over its potential impact. Whilst the government claims the bill will increase ballot security,...Posted 22 Oct 2021
Sweeping undemocratic changes are being rushed through without consultationA major change to the voting system for Mayors and Police and Crime Commissioners has been slipped into the Elections Bill at Committee Stage – after MPs and the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee...Posted 06 Oct 2021
One year on from the General Election: What we’ve learnt about Westminster’s warped voting systemA year ago this Saturday, the polls opened on the first December election for over ninety years. At the time this felt like an unusual bookend to an unusual parliamentary term, which had culminated in...Posted 11 Dec 2020
Voters Left Voiceless – The 2019 General ElectionFor all the talk of December’s poll as a ‘People versus Parliament’ election, it looks like neither won. 22.6 million. That’s the number of votes that didn’t count towards the result in December’s General Election,...Posted 02 Mar 2020
14 Million Voters Are In Seats That Haven’t Changed Hands Since WW2. Here’s WhyNearly 14 million voters are in seats that have not changed party hands since the Second World War, according to new research by the Electoral Reform Society. Taking into account equivalent predecessor seats, some seats have...Posted 09 Dec 2019
There’s a glaring threat facing the next General Election: the ‘missing millions’You don’t have to opt in to your right to free speech. So why do we have to opt in to our right to vote? Voting is a basic right. While not enough on its...Posted 07 Oct 2019
The current crisis has been a long time coming – and Westminster’s system is behind itIt’s easy right now to get caught up in the daily drama of politics – to focus on individuals, and the game playing, and to forget that the current political chaos is all part of...Posted 24 Sep 2019
‘Democracy denied’ as report reveals how voters are left voiceless across EnglandERS Research Officer Ian Simpson introduces his new report: Democracy Denied: The 2019 Election Audit If two party politics isn’t dead, it has certainly taken a big hit over the first half of 2019. The...Posted 22 Aug 2019
Ending the Politics of Division – How We Can Build a New DemocracyTen years on from the expenses scandal that rocked trust in our politics and nearly three years since this Brexit deadlock began, Britain’s broken political system remains largely unchanged. No one can deny it: the...Posted 25 May 2019