A small change has the potential to make a big difference to Australian electionsIn 1918, a seemingly ordinary by-election in the Australian electoral division of Swan changed Australian federal politics forever. The conservatives left Labor in the dust with almost double the vote. Unfortunately for them, there were...Posted 08 Jan 2021
How close was Trump to winning the election?Just before the 2020 US Presidential election, we asked the question ‘could Trump win the Presidency and lose the popular vote again’? Now that results from every state have been certified and the Electoral College...Posted 05 Jan 2021
Here’s how much the PM’s new unelected Lords could cost usThe House of Lords was already bursting at the seams, but the latest batch of appointments from the Prime Minister has taken it past breaking point. Over 800 unelected lawmakers will be voting on decisions...Posted 04 Jan 2021
Is the government’s Online Harms Bill fit for purpose?By Akash Thiara, a Placement Student with the Electoral Reform Society from the University of Nottingham. After a long delay, the government has finally released plans to tackle ‘online harms’. The online harms bill, which...Posted 04 Jan 2021
Replace Lords with a senate of the regions to help ‘level up’Overhauling Parliament’s London-dominated second chamber would help empower the UK’s nations and regions, writes a senior director at the Electoral Reform Society. It’s been a year since Boris Johnson’s victory in the 2019 general election,...Posted 22 Dec 2020
Labour MPs call on party in Westminster to back electoral reform after Wales’ Senedd backs changeLabour MPs from across the party have called on the leadership to back reform to Westminster’s ‘broken voting system’ after the Labour-led administration in Cardiff passed legislation introducing STV for local government elections across Wales....Posted 20 Dec 2020
What we’ve learnt about the government’s ‘Democracy Commission’By Akash Thiara, a Placement Student with the Electoral Reform Society from the University of Nottingham. It has been a year since the last general election and, the Conservative party pledged it would set up...Posted 18 Dec 2020
Shock Parliamentary survey results highlights calls for electoral reformBy Akash Thiara, a Placement Student with the Electoral Reform Society from the University of Nottingham. A survey conducted by the House of Commons’ Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee (PACAC) asked people what...Posted 15 Dec 2020
YouGov study reveals the stark levels of discontent with WestminsterBy Akash Thiara, a Placement Student with the Electoral Reform Society from the University of Nottingham. Last week, polling firm YouGov released a wide-ranging study on democracy and its perception amongst Britons – and it...Posted 11 Dec 2020
One year on from the General Election: What we’ve learnt about Westminster’s warped voting systemA year ago this Saturday, the polls opened on the first December election for over ninety years. At the time this felt like an unusual bookend to an unusual parliamentary term, which had culminated in...Posted 11 Dec 2020