How the new Welsh party leaders can make a difference on diversityHas there ever been such a time of change in Welsh politics? By the end of this year there is a chance that none of the parties in the Assembly will have the same leader...Posted 15 Aug 2018
Long Read: What’s gone wrong with our democracy – and how do we fix it?This is a time of high political anxiety. No one seems to be very sure of much anymore. Not that long ago it all seemed so different. The twentieth century was a time of tremendous...Posted 14 Aug 2018
Our democracy faces many threats – but the government has picked the wrong priorityIt’s not just campaigners saying it any more: democracy is officially at risk, according to parliament’s digital, culture, media and sport committee. Britain’s main campaign rules were drawn up in the late 1990s, before social...Posted 02 Aug 2018
Welsh civil society launch open government manifestoIf you could get the Welsh Government to do one thing to be more transparent or engaging, what would it be? Especially if you knew the government had to listen and respond? That was the...Posted 02 Aug 2018
In these divided times, a new consensus is emerging around our broken election lawsFresh off the back of our call for Parliament to take action on Britain’s analogue-age campaign rules – and the launch of our petition for an end to ‘dark ads’ – commentators and public figures...Posted 31 Jul 2018
Why it’s time to shine a light on ‘dark ads’ onlineFollowing a request by the Culture Media and Sport committee, Facebook has revealed the EU referendum adverts paid for by Vote Leave and created by Aggregate IQ. In the modern world of campaigning, political parties and campaigns can...Posted 30 Jul 2018
Campaign regulation is needed now before all trust is goneThe need to tighten the rules around how political parties and campaigns target voters online is a hot topic right now. Last week’s fines against Vote Leave for overspending (and breaching other key rules) in...Posted 24 Jul 2018
What were these ‘so-called’ trials of voter ID supposed to prove?One of the great mysteries of the voter ID trials in May’s English local elections was what exactly the trials were meant to be testing. Out of 44.4 million votes cast in 2017, there were...Posted 19 Jul 2018
From rule-breakers to foreign influencers, our democracy is under threatThe Electoral Commission has fined Vote Leave, the official pro-Brexit campaign, £61,000 for breaking electoral law during the 2016 EU referendum. This could be a game-changer. Its long-awaited report, published on Tuesday, states that there...Posted 17 Jul 2018
Revealed: Abuse and harassment in Welsh politics is rife. Here’s how to stamp it outWe got a sense of the shocking scale of abuse in Westminster last year. But there has been relatively little heard about the issues surrounding harassment and diverse representation in Wales. It turns out the situation...Posted 12 Jul 2018