140 years of winning electoral reformOn a chilly evening exactly 140 years ago, a diverse group gathered at 7 Clarges Street, Westminster. Brought together by the Victorian naturalist, archaeologist and polymath Sir John Lubbock, it was clear to them that the...Posted 16 Jan 2024
The UK’s shortest serving PM hands out peerages to friends and supportersIn the days between Christmas and New Year, the government tried to quietly slip out some bad news – it hoped many people would be too distracted by remnant cheeseboards and left-over Turkey to notice...Posted 02 Jan 2024
Which is the best electoral system for the House of Lords?Whenever the issue of creating an elected Second Chamber comes up, a common question is how it should be elected. Thankfully, one of the areas of agreement on Lords reform over the years has been...Posted 27 Dec 2023
How many peers are there in the House of Lords – and how many does it need?One of the unique features of our currently second chamber, apart from it being unelected and still partially based on inherited titles, is that its membership is huge. At over 800 peers in total, not...Posted 21 Dec 2023
The Non-Battleground Election: Millions of voters are ignoredLast week, the Labour Party started the process of selecting their general election candidates for 211 ‘non-battleground’ constituencies in England. The description of these seats as being ‘non-battleground’ is telling, implying that Labour will not...Posted 18 Dec 2023
The top 5 most-read ERS articles from 2023Every year we have a look through the stats to see which of our articles were the most popular with readers in the year coming to a close. So if you missed them the first...Posted 14 Dec 2023
Fewer than one-in-four support prime ministers handing out peerages to parachute people into cabinetOur recent polling, covered by the Daily Mirror, has found that fewer than one-in-four individuals think it is acceptable for prime ministers to appoint peers to the House of Lords so they can parachute them...Posted 12 Dec 2023
Unfinished Business: New report shows routes to an elected Second ChamberReform of the House of Lords is both hugely popular with the public and very long overdue. Yet in any serious discussion of how to achieve reform, the same questions come up: What about Commons...Posted 11 Dec 2023
How do countries around the world deal with overseas voters?In October, legislation was introduced which would enable over 3 million more British citizens to vote. Wondering where the government have found 3 million extra voters? They’re the long-term UK diaspora, as the Guardian termed...Posted 08 Dec 2023
Government report can’t say if voter ID made any difference to problem it was supposed to solveThe government has published its evaluation of the Elections Act changes, including the voter ID requirement, used for the first time in the English local elections in May. Back in September, three separate independent reports...Posted 08 Dec 2023