Resignation honours are the worst, but all patronage is bad The fact that Liz Truss’s short-term premiership can result in lifetime appointments to the house of House of Lords has rightfully angered many. But it is just an example of business as usual in Westminster,... Posted 23 Aug 2023
Voters trusted themselves to vote at 16 – let’s expand the franchise Do you think you should have been able to vote from 16? New research commissioned by The Body Shop and The British Youth Council has found that 64% of adults would have liked to have... Posted 18 Aug 2023
Liz Truss’ resignation honours could be a turning point for reform News reports this weekend revealed that Liz Truss’s controversial honours list is making its way through the vetting process with the Cabinet Office and House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC). This suggests that the UK’s... Posted 16 Aug 2023
First Past the Post locks many talented people out of politics This week, Politics Home reported that Regional Tories Are Snubbing Parachuted MP Candidates In Favour Of “Local Champions”. It seems that number of Conservative candidates with a background in local government is increasing at each... Posted 11 Aug 2023
Where are the policies for renters? First Past the Post keeps the focus on homeowners With the current cost-of-living crisis and soaring interest rates, mortgages and mortgage holders are all anybody can talk about, including our political parties. Posted 28 Jul 2023
Proportional representation helped women get elected in 2022 In January 2023, the global proportion of women parliamentarians just was 26.5%, indicating that there’s a way to go before we have equal numbers of men and women in parliament around the world. While quotas... Posted 27 Jul 2023
Should the ERS look at the rules for… Tennis? As tennis players line up for the Wimbledon semi-finals, and candidates hit the doorstep for multiple by-elections, we’ve been thinking about how useful sporting analogies are when it comes to politics. As, when you think... Posted 14 Jul 2023
How honourable are honours lists? Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list caused quite a kerfuffle between the House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC) and the current and former PM. This all led to a rather slimmed-down list from the much speculated... Posted 11 Jul 2023
Now we know at least 14,000 were blocked from voting, voter ID should be scrapped On the 23rd June, the Electoral Commission published their provisional report on the rollout of voter ID. One figure stands out from their research: 14,000 eligible voters were denied their democratic right to cast their... Posted 11 Jul 2023
Welsh Government to introduce progressive electoral reforms Last week in the Senedd, First Minister Mark Drakeford announced the Welsh Government’s plans for legislation for the next year. This covered eight new bills which the government hopes will become law. There was a... Posted 06 Jul 2023