Scottish local democracy can build and strengthen our communities Democracy is the right for people to decide how the place where they live is run. But too few people now believe that this right is being honoured, too few believe that they decide and... Posted 13 May 2022
Voters’ views warped across England and Wales as First Past the Post holds back elections Elections happened across the UK yesterday, with polls in Northern Ireland Assembly and local elections for all of Scotland and Wales plus large parts of England. Voters in Northern Ireland and Scotland used fair, proportional... Posted 06 May 2022
Making the case for STV in England – our local elections campaign Over the last few months the ERS has been building interest in how STV can make the UK’s politics fairer by highlighting the success of the system where it is currently used in the country.... Posted 06 May 2022
Elections Cancelled: Over 100,000 Welsh voters to be denied a vote With elections coming up across the country, campaigners across Wales are gearing up the familiar routine of doorstep conversations, leaflets through letterboxes and trying to convince voters that their candidate deserves to be re-elected, or... Posted 13 Apr 2022
Why England needs the Single Transferable Vote In May 2022, local elections will take place throughout Scotland and Wales, as well as in many parts of England, including the election of all local councillors in Greater London. In Scotland, these will be... Posted 07 Apr 2022
England and Wales can learn from Scotland’s success with STV It is now 15 years since Scotland abandoned First Past the Post for local government elections and adopted the Single Transferable Vote form of proportional representation. What many will have seen as a small shift in process... Posted 01 Apr 2022
Early voting trails come to Wales This week the Welsh Government announced an exciting series of pilots on flexible voting – trialling, for the first time, new ways to make it easier for Welsh voters to access the ballot box. Since... Posted 25 Mar 2022
Welsh Labour conference vote is a big boost to campaign for Senedd reform With 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. For as long as there... Posted 16 Mar 2022
Why the Senedd needs more members With 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 13 Mar 2022
For local democracy to flourish our representatives need the power to deliver New ERS research finds over two-thirds of councillors feel they lack the powers to represent the needs of their local community. Local government is at the front line of our democracy. It’s the closest level... Posted 10 Mar 2022