News and Comment

The latest news and commentary from the Electoral Reform Society.

Around the World | Current Affairs Commentary | Developments at the ERS | Your Questions Answered | Case Studies

Why cutting the number of MPs could cut democratic scrutiny too

Last week we saw the first proposals for the new constituency boundaries, drawn up by the Boundary Commission. It’s certainly caused a stir – with allegations flying around about which parties it will hit harder, whether it...

Posted 23 Sep 2016

5 simple ways to improve how we do democracy

It seems like the distant past now, but in the few weeks up to the registration deadline for the EU referendum, more than 1.35 million people applied to register. On the day of the deadline, 525,000 people applied to...

Posted 20 Sep 2016

Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith Quizzed on Democratic Reform

The Labour leadership election is in full swing, with the vote closing on Wednesday 21st September. At the ERS, we’re running Q&As with the leadership candidates for the Labour Party. On Tuesday we published our Q&A with...

Posted 07 Sep 2016

The next four years for reform: our 2020 strategy

Over the past few years, the Electoral Reform Society has gone from strength to strength. As the world’s oldest pro-democracy organisation, we have a long history of fighting to build a better democracy. And now...

Posted 07 Sep 2016

Electoral Reform in Parliament again

Two of our issues are back in the House of Commons this week as Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, will be presenting her ‘Electoral Reform (Proportional Representation and Reduction of Voting...

Posted 18 Aug 2016

Why electoral reform is a trade union issue

This is an article from Rory Scothorne and Josiah Mortimer ahead of the Unite union’s policy conference starting this weekend. The text is from the ERS’ new trade union leaflet ‘Trade Unions and Electoral Reform‘, and follows an overwhelming vote at last year’s...

Posted 08 Jul 2016

How do Conservative Party leadership elections work?

(Updated for October 2024) Historically there weren’t elections for the leader of the Conservative party, but, following the machinations surrounding the appointment of Sir Alec Douglas-Home in 1963, elections among the MPs were brought in,...

Posted 05 Jul 2016

Tories don’t use First Past the Post to elect their leader. It’s one rule for us and one for them