Articles and Insights

Accessible commentary and insights from the Electoral Reform Society on the issues shaping our democracy.

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Neglecting Wythenshawe

Voters in Wythenshawe and Sale East are getting an unusual amount of attention as they go to the polls today. In a by-election, the might of parties’ national infrastructure can be concentrated on a single...

Posted 13 Feb 2014

Time to Bite the Ballot

Today is the first-ever National Voter Registration Day – a fantastic initiative by Bite the Ballot to get as many (particularly younger) people on the electoral register as possible. A large number of schools, businesses, associations and...

Posted 05 Feb 2014

On dual candidacy, let’s play nice

The UK Government has confirmed its intention to lift the ban on dual candidacy in its Draft Wales Bill. In a nutshell, dual candidacy is when an individual contests both a constituency seat and a party...

Posted 18 Dec 2013

Senedd Cymru Welsh Parliament

Tomorrow’s Party: share your vision

This post was originally published by Democratic Audit. Contribute to our Tomorrow’s Party consultation here.    Kind words are rarely spoken about political parties nowadays. If members of the public think of them at all, they tend to...

Posted 09 Dec 2013

Pausing the Lobbying Bill

The Government’s concession this week to pause and briefly consult on the worst aspects of the deeply flawed Part 2 of the Lobbying Bill demonstrates the power and importance of collective organising and co-operative campaigning....

Posted 07 Nov 2013

Wales and the Lobbying Bill

The potential effects of the Lobbying Bill on democracy at the UK level have been widely discussed, and it is difficult to cover the myriad problems the Bill poses in a single blog. This is...

Posted 24 Oct 2013

Only one in five ministers are female

In 2009, David Cameron pledged that a third of his ministers would be women. But even today, after a reshuffle which has increased the number of women in government by three, still only one in five ministers...

Posted 08 Oct 2013

Keep politics civil

Often when discussing the necessary culture and institutions required for democracy to flourish, the need for ‘civil society’ is extolled – that is, the networks of non-state organisations which are formed by people coming together...

Posted 28 Aug 2013

A democratic vision

As Edinburgh’s celebration of artistic endeavour and creativity drew to a close ERS Scotland shared the results of 13 months of political endeavour and creativity with the launch of the Democracy Max vision for a good...

Posted 28 Aug 2013