ERS in the Press: General Election editionChange. That was the driving message of Labour’s successful general election campaign, and change was very much on the agenda for the ERS Comms team (as far as the electoral system goes) as we’ve been...Posted 11 Jul 2024
The only bias in the electoral system should be towards the votersIn the days since the election, I have been touring TV and radio studios making the case for proportional representation and talking about how First Past the Post is failing millions of voters. The fact...Posted 08 Jul 2024
How the 2024 election could have looked with proportional representationAnd the results are out. This election has the biggest difference ever between how we voted and the MPs that now represent us. This was the first election ever where four parties got over 10%...Posted 05 Jul 2024
It should be a scandal that small changes in the vote result in outsize changes in ParliamentTwo, rather similar, articles came out today on the likely impact of small swings in the vote on the results of the general election. In the Times, they identified 130,000 voters in 100 seats that...Posted 03 Jul 2024
ERS in the Press – Coverage we’ve secured in the GE campaignYou might have noticed that there’s a general election approaching. Whilst the date of the election may have taken us all a little by surprise, the ERS communications team were ready to go and making...Posted 25 Jun 2024
New polling finds three quarters of public say politics needs to improve significantlyLast week we had extremely concerning news about the state of our democracy. A significant study by the National Centre for Social Research found more people ‘than ever before’ ‘almost never’ trust the British government...Posted 20 Jun 2024
Manifestos outside the big two parties: Putting democracy on the agendaLast week we looked at the sections of the Labour and Conservative manifestos that touched on democracy-related issues. This week, we turn our attention to the other parties that are standing candidates in virtually all...Posted 19 Jun 2024
What does a super-majority mean and is it something we should worry about?In the last week, the current defence secretary, Grant Shapps, has been appearing in the news to warn about the supposed dangers of a Labour ‘super-majority’. He told Times Radio “You don’t want to have...Posted 18 Jun 2024
Labour manifesto: Encouraging first steps – but we need to address rock bottom trust in politicsThis week we had startling and deeply concerning news about the state of our democracy. A study from the National Centre for Social Research concluded that: ‘All in all, it appears that people’s trust in...Posted 13 Jun 2024
Conservative manifesto: Missing pledges to improve our democracyThe launch of the Conservative manifesto yesterday was conspicuously light on democratic policy with little mention by way of reforms desperately needed to strengthen our democracy. Voter ID Policy The Conservatives made only one proposal...Posted 13 Jun 2024