Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit: reflections on the first weekendThe Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit has just begun its work. The project’s director, Alan Renwick, here offers some initial, personal reflections on a highly successful first weekend. The Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit has just completed its first weekend...Posted 16 Sep 2017
You did it: Parliament is going to debate adopting fair votesEarlier this year, the scale of public anger at our broken voting system was revealed. Despite no General Election being on the horizon at the time – and starting from scratch – voters shattered expectations:...Posted 14 Sep 2017
2017 General Election ResultsWhile Labour achieved a nearly proportional result, getting just over 40 percent of the seats on 40 percent of the vote, the Conservatives took a skewed seat-share, with just under 49 percent of the seats...Posted 29 Aug 2017
It’s time for Westminster to join Scotland in shunning First Past the PostFirst Past the Post elections are like trying to peel potatoes with a chainsaw. For much of the UK, people have come to think this clunking old method of giving people a say is the same as...Posted 24 Aug 2017
Wales tears down barriers to democracy as England fortifies themLast week Wales has shown just what devolution can do: allow new ways of doing democracy. On Tuesday the Welsh government launched a consultation that has the potential to be a game-changer when it comes...Posted 27 Jul 2017
The results come in for the UK’s most bizarre and elitist electionBaron Vaux of Harrowden (or Richard Hubert Gordon Gilbey) has won a seat for life on the basis of 16 (out of 27 cast) aristocrats’ votes. How did we get here? In 1999, the House...Posted 20 Jul 2017
Citizenship education paves the way for votes at 16With Wales looking to equalise their voting age with Scotland for local elections at 16, we asked our work experience student Carla to explain what impact the citizenship education classes she’d recent completed would have...Posted 19 Jul 2017
It’s time to get the public involved in BrexitThe way people talk about ‘Leavers’ and ‘Remainers’ is enough to make you think they have always been at loggerheads – two irreconcilable opponents, fated to oppose each other forever and ever. But it’s not...Posted 12 Jul 2017
The House of Lords is in the midst of yet another hereditary peers’ by-electionBy Darren Hughes In case you’re not aware of this bizarre constitutional anomaly, in 1999, the House of Lords Act kicked out all but 92 hereditary peers. But instead of reducing that number over time,...Posted 11 Jul 2017
2017 was the first online media election. Let’s look at what this means for democracyAccording to recent research from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, 2017 was the first general election where online news over took TV as the most popular source of news. But whilst this...Posted 29 Jun 2017