It’s time for candidates to ‘play fair’ and back overhaul of UK’s outdated election rulesThe Fair Play Pledge, a major initiative involving several democratic organisations, was formally launched this Wednesday to highlight the need for open and transparent campaigning for the May election period. Next month thousands of candidates...Posted 09 Apr 2021
England is blighted by local one party statesEngland is blighted by local one-party states: areas where it too often feels like only one party can win, where parties control nearly all the seats – and where scrutiny is a shadow of what...Posted 01 Apr 2021
Join Jackie Weaver and democracy groups as we launch the Fair Play PledgeThis May sees a huge round of elections in Britain – from Holyrood to Cardiff Bay, the London Assembly and local elections in big swathes of England. Thousands of candidates will be standing – and...Posted 01 Apr 2021
Local communities must be the foundation on which we build Scotland’s recoveryThe pandemic has given us a fresh insight into what we already knew about Scotland’s communities; people will sacrifice their time and resources to aid their neighbours. But that sense of community cannot be taken...Posted 26 Mar 2021
Hereditary Peers highlight the absurdity of our system and the case for reformMomentum is building for wholesale reform of the House of Lords, as hereditary peerages are under public scrutiny after a Sunday Times report shed light on the absurdity of inherited titles – twenty years after...Posted 26 Mar 2021
We can’t let the government force a broken system on important electionsThis week, Home Secretary Priti Patel laid out new plans as part of a review into the role of Police and Crime Commissioners. The move would see the current preference-based Supplementary Vote (SV) system replaced...Posted 19 Mar 2021
There are big reasons some people won’t vote this May – and it’s not just CovidWhen one party takes all – on a fraction of the vote – people understandably feel alienated and voiceless, and new research appears to back this up.Posted 19 Mar 2021
Making it easier for unpopular candidates to become Mayors turns back the clockThese are deeply concerning plans to change our elections.Posted 18 Mar 2021
Labour and progressive thinkers to present Keir Starmer with vision for ‘real democracy’Keir Starmer will be presented with a vision for a pro-democracy overhaul of Westminster and the economy on Sunday (21st March), with the release of a new book, The New Foundations.Posted 15 Mar 2021
Why voter ID is the opposite of what we need to improve our electionsThat there is growing opposition to government plans to introduce mandatory voter ID should come as no surprise. Requirements to show photo ID at polling stations, which are expected to be introduced in 2023, are...Posted 12 Mar 2021