An Elected Lord? The British constitution, its parliament and its institutions are well known for its oddities and eccentricities: the space provided in the Commons cloakroom for MPs to hang their sword; the fact that all swans in... Posted 18 Sep 2015
The Scottish people should be involved in the devolution debate Yesterday (Wednesday 16th September) the Scottish Parliament debated ‘Scotland’s Future: Democracy and Devolution’. One year on from the independence referendum, and with the Scotland Bill due to go to report stage in the next few... Posted 17 Sep 2015
Why can’t we vote online? The following is a guest blog from Jason Kitcat, who is on the Advisory Council for digital campaigners, the Open Rights Group. At first blush it’s understandable why many would think that Internet voting is a good... Posted 04 Sep 2015
Are the SNP about to break the Holyrood voting system (again)? This article was co-authored by ERS Scotland’s Juliet Swann and Danny Zinkus Sutton from Unlock Democracy Pollsters are perhaps not to be relied upon after their predictions for the General Election earlier in the year. Yet,... Posted 24 Aug 2015
Costly cronies of the House of Lords In our new report, House of Lords Fact vs Fiction, we took a look at some of the enduring myths that surround our unelected second chamber. Peers are technically unpaid, but unlike the thousands of people... Posted 24 Aug 2015
Taking advantage of the Greek electoral law Greece will return to the polls on September 20th. This is the third nationwide poll this year, after an earlier election in January and a referendum in June. It is also the fourth general election... Posted 21 Aug 2015
The New Zealand Flag Referendum For many years the New Zealand flag has been the subject of much debate. Adopted when New Zealand was still a part of the British Empire, their national standard has the British flag within it.... Posted 18 Aug 2015
It’s official: the House of Lords is completely bust Today, we can reveal that the House of Lords is officially, well and truly bust. We’re pleased to launch our new report on our unelected upper chamber: ‘House of Lords: Fact vs Fiction’ – where... Posted 16 Aug 2015
Andy Burnham’s identified the right problem – but his solution falls short Try as the political class might, calls to reform the House of Lords always come to the fore. So it’s no surprise that the issue has been on the agenda again for the past week.... Posted 10 Aug 2015
The House of Lords Needs a Major Overhaul, Not Tinkering Around the Edges Calls for reform of the House of Lords have been heard even more loudly that normal in the last ten days and the reason is fairly obvious. The current set-up comes nowhere close to being... Posted 04 Aug 2015