Why replacing the unelected House of Lords is key to the movement for fair votesFor far too many of its members, the second chamber of our Parliament is a private members’ club. The House of Lords – the UK’s revising chamber – is packed to the brim with appointees...Posted 22 Mar 2019
Local citizens’ assemblies could break our political deadlock – but the government have vetoed themLast summer, ministers announced genuinely exciting plans for piloting ‘deliberative democracy’ across the UK. The plan was to use a series of citizens’ assemblies to engage people with politics, to tackle complex and contested topics,...Posted 22 Mar 2019
How hereditary aristocrats are still trying to call the shots in ParliamentOn Friday, a handful of hereditary aristocrats managed to club together to stop even the most modest of attempts to modernise the House of Lords. Lord Grocott’s bill would have ended the absurd practice of...Posted 19 Mar 2019
These three peers should not be allowed to stand in the way of democracyIn a week dominated by Brexit, it’s easy to forget that there are other topics still on the political agenda. While our MPs once again grapple over just what kind of Brexit would ‘take back...Posted 15 Mar 2019
Unelected aristocrats are still trying to call the shots in Parliament. It’s time for changeThis week the ballots dropped for the world’s most elitist election. A contest to select a new hereditary Crossbench peer to sit in the House of Lords. You’d be forgiven for thinking that elections for...Posted 12 Mar 2019
Digital political campaigning remains as unregulated as ever – but calls for reform are increasingOver the weekend, Buzzfeed reported that Britain’s Future, an obscure pro-Brexit group, spent almost £350,000 on 2,600 Facebook adverts over the course of five months, micro-targeting tens of thousands of voters to get them to...Posted 12 Mar 2019
Once again, the government have ignored the consensus for Lords reform. Enough is enoughThe facts surrounding the dire state of the House of Lords are clear. It is grossly oversized – the largest legislative chamber in the world outside of China. It is wasteful: in the 2010-2015 parliament,...Posted 08 Mar 2019
Political parties need to stand more women candidates to close the political gender gapThere can be no doubt that in order to see more women elected to our political institutions, political parties need to stand more women candidates. Yet there is no official information on the diversity of...Posted 08 Mar 2019
Tax ‘exiles’ are funnelling money into our political parties. It’s time to close the loopholeHere’s a fairly basic democratic principle: those who pour money into our political parties in exchange for influence should – at the very least –be based here at home. Sadly, even that low bar is...Posted 07 Mar 2019
Is there proportional representation in France?Apart from the UK, France is the only other European democracy not to use some form of proportional representation for its state-wide elections (Here’s a list of voting systems used at the state-level in Europe)....Posted 07 Mar 2019