News and Comment

The latest news and commentary from the Electoral Reform Society.

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Referendums are in vogue – so let’s get them right

Referendums are becoming increasingly popular, internationally and domestically. Since the first UK referendum in 1975, the UK has held three nationally, and 11 in UK countries or English regions, with even more at a local...

Posted 05 Sep 2016

Polling Station

Electoral Reform in Parliament again

Two of our issues are back in the House of Commons this week as Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, will be presenting her ‘Electoral Reform (Proportional Representation and Reduction of Voting...

Posted 18 Aug 2016

The House of Lords needs more than tinkering

Lords reform is back on the agenda. And given the frequency of scandals we see in the upper chamber, that’s no surprise. A couple of weeks ago, we revealed that David Cameron’s 189 appointments to...

Posted 17 Aug 2016

House of Lords

Voter fraud: the nut and the sledgehammer

Last week, the Former Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, published his report into tackling electoral fraud in the UK. While we should of course take all instances of voter fraud very seriously,...

Posted 15 Aug 2016

Driving Licence Voter ID

David Cameron’s Farewell Gift

Now that David Cameron has moved out of Number 10, the staggering bill he has left behind is starting to become apparent. Since 2010, he has appointed 205 new life peers to the House of...

Posted 08 Aug 2016

House of Lords

Why electoral reform is a trade union issue

This is an article from Rory Scothorne and Josiah Mortimer ahead of the Unite union’s policy conference starting this weekend. The text is from the ERS’ new trade union leaflet ‘Trade Unions and Electoral Reform‘, and follows an overwhelming vote at last year’s...

Posted 08 Jul 2016

5 things this EU vote has taught us about referendums

Whichever way you feel about the result, most people are glad the EU referendum campaign is over. To put it diplomatically, it wasn’t the highest quality debate in the world. Particularly for those on the...

Posted 05 Jul 2016

Brexit and our broken electoral system

This is a guest blog, originally published by Noel Longhurst. The opinions expressed here are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Electoral Reform Society. Ever since the result of the EU...

Posted 01 Jul 2016