Paying the price of First Past the Post – Towns Fund millions spent on marginal seatsThere is no better way of finding out which voters matter under Westminster’s warped electoral system than looking at where your taxes are funnelled to. The government’s £3.9bn Towns Fund was heralded as the way...Posted 25 Sep 2020
ERS reveals the scale of secretive online campaigning during last year’s electionDemocracy in the Dark – our new report commissioned from two of the UK’s leading election finance academics reveals a major rise in online spending during the 2019 general election – with little transparency over...Posted 24 Sep 2020
The Citizen’s Assembly of Scotland can help shape our post-Covid futureScotland’s first Citizens’ Assembly met last week for the first time since March. Like many social events and workplaces, the deliberative body, made up of 100 citizens reflecting Scotland’s demographics, has moved online after being...Posted 23 Sep 2020
Campaigners unite to urge Labour party to back proportional representation A major new project has been launched to encourage the Labour party to back proportional representation. Posted 22 Sep 2020
Britain’s voter registration system is leaving millions on the sidelinesThey’ve been called the ‘missing millions’: over 9 million eligible people in Great Britain are currently not on the electoral roll. Posted 18 Sep 2020
Hereditary peer by-elections have been paused. They should be scrapped entirelyThe House of Lords just keeps getting bigger. Following the PM’s appointment of 36 new unelected peers, each week sees more introduced to a chamber that is bursting at the seams. The Lords themselves have...Posted 18 Sep 2020
It is possible to hold elections in a pandemic, but we have to start planning for them nowThis is a guest article from Sarah Birch, Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Economy, King’s College London. Elections are by their nature complex logistical exercises. During a pandemic, holding an election will be...Posted 15 Sep 2020
What can we learn from the UK Climate Assembly?The UK’s first nationwide citizens’ assembly on climate change came to a close this week, with the launch of its final report setting out 50 recommendations on how the UK should reach net zero by...Posted 11 Sep 2020
Wales’ Parliament has long been under-resourced – it’s time to change thatWith just 60 elected members, Wales’ Parliament has long been under-resourced. But that problem has grown as Wales acquired more responsibilities – without the representatives needed to properly scrutinise legislation. Changes to the size of...Posted 11 Sep 2020
Voters have had enough of the unelected Lords. The PM and peers need to listen upThe 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