Party over Principle: Independence in the LordsThe House of Lords is often assumed to be more independent than the Commons because it is less strongly whipped and because it contains Crossbench members who do not have a party affiliation. But it’s...Posted 09 Oct 2015
Revealed: the cost of one-party councilsIf you’re reading this, you probably already know that First Past the Post hurts our democracy. But it might be hurting our pockets, too. Councils dominated by single parties could be wasting as much as...Posted 02 Oct 2015
Building Alliances for Electoral Reform – ERS at Lib Dem conferenceWith five parties united against First Past the Post – the Lib Dems, UKIP, Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru – the issue of how to win proportional representation has come to the fore. And it’s a particularly...Posted 30 Sep 2015
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 debateYesterday (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 LordsIn 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 lawGreece 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 ReferendumFor 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