Online campaigning is a wild west – it’s time we knew what parties were up to If 2015 was the digital election, this one is more specifically the Facebook election. With the big money rolling into the social media giant from parties – Labour and the Conservatives are planning to spend a million pounds... Posted 30 May 2017
Diversity deserts: 7.5m people can’t vote for a woman this election There’s good news and bad news when it comes to women’s representation this election. The good news is this: analysis by the Press Association suggests a record number of women could be elected on June 8th, meaning... Posted 26 May 2017
The Conservatives just pledged to take our democracy back decades Yesterday Theresa May launched the Conservatives’ manifesto. There was a lot of talk about ‘moving forwards’. But one pledge stuck out as doing the exact opposite. Theresa May has pledged to impose (or in the manifesto’s... Posted 19 May 2017
The drop in attainers on the electoral roll should worry us all With a week to go before the cut off for registering to vote for the general election on June 8th, our research has shown that the proportion of school leavers on the electoral roll dropped... Posted 17 May 2017
‘Progressive alliances’ shouldn’t be necessary: they’re product of a broken voting system There’s a lot of talk about June 8th being the ‘tactical voting’ election. This past couple of weeks we’ve seen the latest symptom: parties doing the tactical voting on behalf of the electorate – weeks before... Posted 08 May 2017
The next government must extend votes at 16 beyond Scotland You might not have realised, but on Thursday, thousands of 16 and 17 year olds trekked to polling stations across the country to exercise their democratic right to vote. They went with the full support... Posted 05 May 2017
Where are the women in May’s local election? Since the Prime Minister’s unexpected announcement of a General Election last week there’s been little time to talk of anything else. Our 24 hour news cycle is now dominated by images of May, Corbyn et... Posted 27 Apr 2017
Deadline Day: Our Voter Registration System Needs An Overhaul On the evening of the 7th June last year – just a couple of weeks before the EU referendum – the website to register to vote crashed. Cue havoc, thousands of disappointed and angry people, and... Posted 13 Apr 2017
A month before polling day, nearly 100 candidates in Wales have already won Voting is an essential part of democratic life – from Mayoral contests to Westminster elections. Yet in an alarming number of places next month, voters in Wales will be denied a vote. That’s not because... Posted 11 Apr 2017
Enough is enough – it’s time for a full review of Lords’ expenses It seems that each new batch of expenses from the House of Lords is yet another scandal. This weekend we saw fresh revelations – and with it, some pretty egregious abuses of the system. Yesterday... Posted 03 Apr 2017