Scotland’s Citizens’ Assembly: What can it do to be a success?This piece is a guest post from Conor Black. Conor is a former student of the University of Glasgow who wrote his MRes dissertation on ‘Mini-Publics in the Deliberative System’. The first meeting of the...Posted 22 Oct 2019
Why our next General Election will be an unfair lotteryOver the past century, our society and democracy have been transformed almost beyond recognition. As voting habits have changed, one thing becoming increasingly clear: Westminster’s voting system of First Past the Post fails time and...Posted 21 Oct 2019
Dark ads and dodgy donors: How the Queen’s Speech missed a chance to protect our democracyThere was a conspicuous silence in the Queen’s Speech on Monday. Despite announcing a bill to protect ‘electoral integrity’ (by making it harder for us all to vote), there was inaction on updating Britain’s outdated...Posted 18 Oct 2019
The movement for an overhaul of Britain’s broken constitution is growingOn Sunday, former Brexit Secretary David Davis wrote an important piece in the Times arguing that ‘Brexit is the writing on the wall for our democracy’. He points out that recent constitutional chaos has shown...Posted 10 Oct 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
A tale of two local by-elections: how STV produces fairer outcomesOn Thursday 3rd October, as on most Thursdays, several local authority by-elections took place throughout Britain. These by-elections occur when a vacancy arises due to a local councillor resigning or passing away. Two of Thursday’s...Posted 04 Oct 2019
London mayoral race: Will Rory Stewart’s candidacy ‘split’ the Conservative vote?If there is one thing you can predict about politics these days, it’s that you can’t predict anything. In the space of a few months, Rory Stewart has gone from running for leadership of the...Posted 04 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
How do elections work in Japan?For the next six weeks the eyes of the world will be fixed on Japan. Ok, probably not all the eyes just the ones that enjoy watching rugby. This week marks the beginning of the...Posted 19 Sep 2019
Is there proportional representation in Scotland?For most of the 20th century, every election in Scotland was conducted under the First Past the Post system, from elections of MPs to local councillors. Much like in the rest of the UK, this...Posted 05 Sep 2019