Voters have had enough of the unelected Lords. The PM and peers need to listen up The first of the Prime Minister’s 36 new appointments to the unelected House of Lords have started to take their seats. They do so at a time of growing public outrage at the state of... Posted 07 Sep 2020
ERS in the Press – August 2020 As governments respond to the global pandemic, the issue of how voters are represented has not gone away. In fact, in many ways, it has become more salient. PR in the public eye In August,... Posted 04 Sep 2020
Our elections watchdog needs strengthening, not scrapping You’d think given the rising tide of disinformation, dodgy donations and dark ads online, the government might be getting serious about empowering our elections watchdog. Instead, the Conservative Party has actually issued a call to... Posted 03 Sep 2020
Lebanon’s confessional system keeps change just out of reach Josh Dell is a writer based in London, who has led on democracy projects for organisations including Bite The Ballot and The Politics Project. His work has been published in CityMetric, Left Foot Forward, and The Sunday... Posted 02 Sep 2020
Most of us don’t agree with a single party across all issues The ‘policy comparison’ tool Vote for Policies crunched the numbers from the 1.1 million responses to their pre-election survey in 2019. Vote for Policies’ Matt Chocqueel-Mangan explains their findings. This is an edited version of... Posted 17 Aug 2020
Revealed: The true cost of Britain’s silent peers There are many perks to being a member of the House of Lords. While many peers do work hard, it seems one of the perks is being able to claim expenses for doing very little.... Posted 17 Aug 2020
Scotland’s loophole ridden lobbying laws are in need of an urgent upgrade Wealth and power can get people access and influence that normal citizens can only imagine. It is, after all, why lobbying is a multi-million pound industry. That's why transparency is so vital. Posted 17 Aug 2020
Political parties – what are your plans to make a more diverse Senedd? On first glance, the Senedd might appear relatively diverse for a political institution in the UK. It made headlines in 2003 when it became the first legislative body in the world to have 50% women.... Posted 17 Aug 2020
Britain moves closer to shutting down ‘dark ads’ – but we need action now The government has today unveiled new proposals that would require parties and political campaigners to display a digital imprint on online political advertisements. This would bring online ads in line with offline election material, which... Posted 12 Aug 2020
ERS in the Press – July 2020 Another Lords scandal, fighting for fair votes, and a spotlight on foreign interference: highlights from the ERS' campaigning in July. Posted 10 Aug 2020