We need to talk about WestminsterDebates about the future of the union and devolution to the UK’s nations and regions continue to dominate the constitutional sphere, as we have set out before, with the results of the May 2021 elections...Posted 04 Jun 2021
A Scottish House of Citizens would be the opposite of Westminster’s institutionally corrupt LordsERS Scotland and the Sortition Foundation have ramped up calls for ‘House of Citizens’ – a revising chamber made up of ordinary voters – in Scotland, following revelations that a Conservative party donor gave the...Posted 03 Jun 2021
Lords call for decisive action to slim down the ever-expanding second chamberBuried amidst last week’s fall-out from the Queen’s Speech and the elections was the fourth report of the Lord Speaker’s Committee on the Size of the House. The committee, established in 2016 by Lord Fowler,...Posted 21 May 2021
ERS in the Press: March 2021The warping effects of First Past the Post were in the news again this month, with the Times’ Patrick Maguire penning a piece on the ‘one-party fiefdoms’ that plague our politics. Darren Hughes, responded with...Posted 15 Apr 2021
Hereditary Peers highlight the absurdity of our system and the case for reformMomentum is building for wholesale reform of the House of Lords, as hereditary peerages are under public scrutiny after a Sunday Times report shed light on the absurdity of inherited titles – twenty years after...Posted 26 Mar 2021
Why are there still hereditary peers in the House of Lords?The ancient triumvirate of the British constitution – the Monarchy, the Lords and the Commons – is a historical trait whose origins can be traced all the way back to the 11th century. Such history...Posted 05 Mar 2021
MPs step up parliamentary push for electoral reform with new cross-party campaignMPs have launched a fresh effort to reform Westminster’s undemocratic voting laws, with a new all-party group pushing for change. The cross-party group – the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Electoral Reform – is working towards...Posted 12 Feb 2021
An unenviable milestone – we must stop the bloat of our oversized second chamberThis week the House of Lords hit an unenviable milestone – once again topping over 800 members following Boris Johnson’s latest round of appointments. Some barriers are meant to be broken but having 800 members...Posted 12 Feb 2021
Activists are calling on Keir Starmer to back ambitious political reform, following a key Labour reportLeading Labour figures and democracy campaigners have urged the Labour party to get behind major political reform, following the launch of a new party-commissioned roadmap for constitutional change.Posted 05 Feb 2021
Why we need more than piecemeal reform of the House of LordsThe House of Lords is back in the spotlight, with former Prime Minister Gordon Brown saying that replacing the House of Lords with an elected senate of the nations and regions should form part of...Posted 03 Feb 2021