How MPs are being effectively locked out of Parliament during the pandemicCommons leader Jacob Rees Mogg has announced a partial return to remote proceedings for MPs, after the shocking case of ex-Minister Tracey Crouch – who has cancer – being unable to contribute to a debate...Posted 16 Nov 2020
Today the government can bring in the ‘missing millions’ excluded from electoral rollToday MPs have a chance to bring in millions of young people to the electoral register and we’re joining with leading youth groups and campaigners to urge them to take it. MPs will be debating...Posted 10 Nov 2020
The government has a chance to right a major electoral injustice on TuesdayAs it stands, the new constituency boundaries will not take into account roughly nine million people who aren’t on the register.Posted 09 Nov 2020
How Holyrood can close the lobbying loopholes – and stand up for transparencyScotland’s lax transparency rules are leaving voters in the dark about the scale and nature of political lobbying, a coalition of campaigners has told MSPs. The argument was made by the Scottish Alliance for Lobbying...Posted 09 Nov 2020
In both the US and Britain, millions are silenced by a broken electoral systemFirst published in the i newspaper While President Trump looked hopefully at a path to re-election on Tuesday night, one fact offered a little consolation to Democrats: they were winning the popular vote. But in...Posted 06 Nov 2020
Teaching politics in our schools should be a necessity not an optionNext year’s Senedd election will see 16 and 17 year olds in Wales be able to vote for the first time in our nation’s history. This move has the potential to be game-changing, but when...Posted 03 Nov 2020
Papers, please: Why the UK must think again before importing US-style voter ID to BritainVoting is a key cornerstone of any democratic system. Just as important are the principles underpinning it: that every vote should be equal, and every vote should count. The US elections have brought these principles...Posted 03 Nov 2020
Manifesto for Democracy: Deepening DemocracyDemocracy is about empowering citizens to be involved in their political system and as such embedding the voices of everyday citizens into those systems is vital to democracy that works. Without it we risk not...Posted 30 Oct 2020
ERS in the Press – October 2020This month has seen a renewed interest in proportional representation internationally. Willie Sullivan backed up the case for a fairer voting system in Canada, drawing on his experience in Scotland. “If you want a system...Posted 29 Oct 2020
As the Scottish Government closes the ‘dark ads’ loophole, Westminster must follow suitFor too long now, online political campaigning in Britain has gone effectively unregulated – to the benefit of well-funded, secretive groups, and to the detriment of voters. Despite the rapid rise of online political ads as a campaign tool, governments...Posted 29 Oct 2020