#MergerHeWrote: Leighton’s Localism In the first article of the ‘Merger, He Wrote’ series, Steve Brooks director of the Electoral Reform Society Cymru reflects on the Welsh Government’s new white paper on local democracy. For the last two decades,... Posted 04 Feb 2015
All votes are equal. But some voters are more equal than others. Should 10,000 voters be able to decide who runs Britain? New analysis of Labour’s target seats for the 2015 General Election have shown just how few people are required to change the Government of this... Posted 01 Feb 2015
‘Reinforcing’ Syriza Much excitement in the European press today as Greece’s left-wing, Eurosceptic and anti-austerity Syriza has come two seats short of an absolute majority in the Greek parliamentary election, allowing them to form a coalition with the right-wing,... Posted 26 Jan 2015
Time for a Convention! Today’s publication of draft legislation to devolve powers to Scotland makes the case for a UK-wide, citizen-led Constitutional Convention ever more pressing. All the parties vowed to devolve more powers to Scotland, and no one is suggesting... Posted 22 Jan 2015
Permission to share power? When it comes to forming a coalition, is it better to get your party on side before committing, or to take the plunge without consultation? The Conservative party chairman Grant Shapps has recently said that... Posted 19 Jan 2015
Open Up: the future of the political party The traditional political parties are in big trouble. Back in the 1950s, one person in every ten was a member of a political party. Now, there are more people who identify their religion as ‘Jedi’... Posted 18 Dec 2014
Reckless choices? After Clacton, comes Rochester and Strood. At the start of the campaign, the Conservatives felt they stood a good chance of winning this second by-election caused by a Conservative MP defecting to UKIP. In comparison... Posted 21 Nov 2014
Friends, Romanians, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Votes… Turnout has been in the news once again, with a report from the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee advocating bank holidays on election days, votes at 16 and other structural changes to increase turnout. Structural and institutional... Posted 17 Nov 2014
Rhodri Morgan on the constitution “If we Brits could write a constitution for the Germans in 1947/8, why can’t we do it for ourselves?” When it came to discussing our inaugural annual lecture themed around the next 15 years of... Posted 17 Oct 2014
A new party system So UKIP burst through, taking Clacton on a 44.1% swing, the second highest in UK by-election history after Bermondsey and Old Southwark, 1982. The two party system is dead, and has been for a long... Posted 10 Oct 2014