The government should stop and re-think the 2022 Elections Bill as it returns to the CommonsThe government’s Elections Bill returns to the House of Commons on Monday 17th January despite the opposition against their plans growing from all sides of the chamber. The bill has faced fierce opposition from campaigners,...Posted 14 Jan 2022
Even senior MPs agree the government needs to pause and rethink the 2022 Elections BillEarlier this week, the House of Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs (PACAC) select committee published the final report of its inquiry into the Elections Bill. In a highly critical report, the influential committee heeded...Posted 17 Dec 2021
Levelling Down: First Past the Post’s impact on regional inequalityLooking at just national disproportionality hides far more damning realities of how First Past the Post (FPTP) distorts the votes of the British public.Posted 07 Dec 2021
Dominic Grieve is just the latest conservative to call for a halt to the 2022 Elections BillWhile the Elections Bill is not expected to return to parliament until the new year, opposition is still growing against this dangerous legislation. The most recent conservative to speak out is former Attorney General, Dominic...Posted 07 Dec 2021
A Labour Peer is trying to abolish hereditary peers (again)There is overwhelming support for reform but Friday once again showed there is little chance of it succeeding. On Friday 3rd December, for the fourth time in just five years, Labour peer Lord Bruce Grocott...Posted 07 Dec 2021
We must end the link between safe seats and second jobsThe most revealing type of political scandal is not the one where rules have been broken, but the ones where they haven’t. Where crisis has erupted over conduct that sits very comfortable within current parliamentary...Posted 26 Nov 2021
COP26 shows we need to democratise to decarboniseIn the run up to the COP26 climate change conference, a coalition of leading democracy organisations joined together on a campaign to put strong democracy at the heart of any response. The campaign’s message was...Posted 26 Nov 2021
Hefty majorities become hefty bank balances with MPs’ outside jobsAs the second jobs scandal engulfs Westminster, the same line keeps being rolled out by government figures: If voters didn’t like their MPs pocketing sizeable sums from second jobs, they wouldn’t keep re-electing them.Posted 15 Nov 2021
The aristocratic by-elections continue to make a mockery out of our democracy On the 9th and 10th November, the House of Lords will be hosting their fifth hereditary peer by-election this year. The House of Lords Act 1999 led to the removal of all but 90 hereditary...Posted 08 Nov 2021
Labour’s Mark Drakeford calls for “radical reform” of the electoral system Mark Drakeford has thrown his support behind changes to how MPs are elected calling for ‘radical reform’ of Westminster’s electoral system. The First Minister of Wales made the remarks at the 2021 Aneurin Bevan Memorial...Posted 28 Oct 2021