Four countries where First Past the Post is dead and buriedAs a Halloween treat, we thought we’d have a spooky stroll around the graveyard of First Past the Post. Around the world, voters in country after country, tired of it’s tricks, have chosen to bury...Posted 31 Oct 2018
Inside the backbench burial ground of Private Members’ BillsMost of the legislation that Parliament passes is introduced and backed by the government. But for thirteen Fridays in each parliamentary session, backbenchers steer the agenda. For those days, Private Members’ Bills have precedence over...Posted 31 Oct 2018
ERS in the Press – October 2018This month we’ve had some fantastic coverage of our issues in the press, here’s just a highlight. Calls to lower UK voting age as Welsh assembly considers change. Our call for a “united franchise” –...Posted 30 Oct 2018
Lords are lobbying – our second chamber is leaving us open to foreign interferenceA story last week showed the House of Lords for what it really is: a lobbyist’s paradise. As revealed by The Times, a series of peers have financial interest in Russia. Some of these have...Posted 29 Oct 2018
Ontario and Québec look towards electoral reformWe’ve covered the exciting moves towards fair votes in British Columbia and Prince Edward Island – two Canadian provinces looking to ditch the broken ‘Westminster model’. But the usefulness of First Past the Post has...Posted 29 Oct 2018
Ireland and blasphemy: Another landmark day for deliberative democracyIt sometimes seems that Ireland is having referendums every week – and today voters there are once again heading to the polls, almost exactly five months since their historic vote to repeal the country’s constitutional...Posted 26 Oct 2018
4 things wrong with the latest ‘reform’ claims from the House of Lords…If a new proclamation is to be believed, the UK’s unelected second chamber is apparently ‘on course’ to reduce in size, ‘within the timeframe set out’ in a report by a House of Lords committee...Posted 25 Oct 2018
In 1951 more people voted Labour than Conservative, yet the Conservatives formed the governmentThe General Election on this day in 1951 couldn’t have been more decisive. Six years since Labour’s victory in 1945, and one year after their victory in 1950, the public was still behind Clement Attlee’s...Posted 25 Oct 2018
Why we can’t leave our democracy at the whim of tech giants like FacebookAnother vote is never far away. But even outside of election time, campaigning rumbles on. Each day, a lot of cash is spent influencing political debate. These days though, that’s not just people delivering leaflets...Posted 25 Oct 2018
We can’t leave political transparency to the whim of big tech firms: it’s time for a campaign overhaulWhen an election is just around the corner, there are several tell-tale signs: politicians incessantly visiting factories, thousands of signs strapped to lampposts, and tensions mounting at the dinner table. And there are the flyers....Posted 23 Oct 2018