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From rule-breakers to foreign influencers, our democracy is under threat

The Electoral Commission has fined Vote Leave, the official pro-Brexit campaign, £61,000 for breaking electoral law during the 2016 EU referendum. This could be a game-changer. Its long-awaited report, published on Tuesday, states that there...

Posted 17 Jul 2018

Revealed: Abuse and harassment in Welsh politics is rife. Here’s how to stamp it out

We got a sense of the shocking scale of abuse in Westminster last year. But there has been relatively little heard about the issues surrounding harassment and diverse representation in Wales. It turns out the situation...

Posted 12 Jul 2018

Why pressure is growing from the PM’s own ranks to back votes at 16

The Electoral Reform Society has launched a new pamphlet titled ‘Civic Duty: The Conservative Case for Votes at 16 & 17.’ Below is its introduction written by ERS Chief Executive, Darren Hughes. British politics is...

Posted 11 Jul 2018

These ‘sham elections’ in the House of Lords must end – as the first step towards real change

Today, with 12 votes, the Earl of Devon won the by-election to decide who will replace Earl Baldwin of Bewdley in the House of Lords. Wherever you stand on the House of Lords, the Prime...

Posted 04 Jul 2018

A cross-party group of MPs are fighting Westminster’s broken voting system

This week is the first National Democracy Week – a rare moment to put the ‘nuts and bolts’ of democracy on the agenda. The elections of the past year have shown that Westminster’s First Past...

Posted 04 Jul 2018

National Democracy Week: The Conservative case for extending the franchise is stronger than ever

The following piece is a guest post by Owen Meredith, National Chairman of the Tory Reform Group. This inaugural National Democracy Week, we should take a moment to remember the sacrifices made by millions to protect...

Posted 03 Jul 2018

There’s an easy way to tackle the ‘political gender gap’ – what’s the government waiting for?

It’s no news that British politics has a big problem with gender diversity. Just a third of MPs and councillors are women. Established prejudices need challenging, social media trolls need stopping and there must be...

Posted 02 Jul 2018

Four ways Westminster’s politics needs fixing this Democracy Week

Monday marks the start of the first ‘National Democracy Week’ – the government’s initiative to encourage democratic participation. It has been established on the premise that “regardless of who we are or where we are...

Posted 29 Jun 2018

Electoral reform for Love Island?

What’s not to like about Love Island? A group of good-looking singletons enter a villa in the hopes of finding love, and we the public, get to vote on what goes on. Much like the...

Posted 29 Jun 2018

The need to rein in the ‘online wild west’ is now being recognised

Following a series of scandals around fake news, foreign interference, and misuse of personal data, the Electoral Commission acknowledged earlier this week that “our democracy may be under threat”. The Commission is calling for urgent...

Posted 29 Jun 2018