Could the Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland change how politics is done for good?A new way of doing democracy is being trialled in Scotland – and the ERS is at the heart of it. Since October, over 100 members of the Scottish public have been meeting regularly to...Posted 20 Mar 2020
Parliament must ensure proper scrutiny amid coronavirus crisisParliament’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has identified the need for sweeping changes in how Westminster operates to protect MPs and staff from the spread of the virus. The practicalities of squeezing 650 men and...Posted 19 Mar 2020
2019 General Election ResultsIn an election campaign characterised by uncertainty and volatility, it came as a surprise to many that the result would deliver such a decisive majority for one party. The Conservative Party made a net gain...Posted 19 Mar 2020
Another chance to scrap an absurd Parliamentary quirkA Bill to phase out one of Parliament’s more absurd procedures is making some progress, after being talked out of time by Lords last year. Lord Grocott’s Hereditary Peers (Abolition of By-Elections) Bill underwent its...Posted 17 Mar 2020
Little evidence to suggest that electoral pacts had ‘material impact on the result’Last week I wrote about tactical voting at the 2019 General Election, after the ERS revealed that almost a third of voters did not feel they were able to vote for the party they actually...Posted 11 Mar 2020
Unpicking the ‘People’s Parliament’: Here’s how many votes went ignored in your regionLast week we revealed how many votes went ignored in December’s general election: 22.6m ballots did not count towards electing an MP. But behind the headline figures are people’s voices across the country being systematically...Posted 09 Mar 2020
Lording it over us: Peers’ expenses free-for-all continuesIt’s a story we’ve heard too many times: unelected Lords cashing it in. This weekend, fresh revelations in the Sunday Times found that in the year to March 2019 peers claimed an average of £30,827...Posted 09 Mar 2020
When millions feel unable to vote for their favourite candidate, something is seriously wrongThree months after the election, yet more evidence of Westminster’s dysfunction is coming to light. Tactical voting is going up Previously unreleased YouGov data for the ERS has revealed that almost a third of voters...Posted 06 Mar 2020
Ignored and unrepresented: Report reveals how Westminster’s electoral system continues to fail votersSomething is deeply wrong when over 70% of votes count for nothing. That’s what Westminster’s voting system did in December’s election, according to a damning new analysis from the ERS. Of 32 million votes cast,...Posted 02 Mar 2020
The movement for real democracy is growing – get involvedSometimes it helps to let the facts speak for themselves. When the ERS tweeted the number of votes it took to elect each MP – by party – after December’s election, it quickly went viral....Posted 02 Mar 2020