News and Comment

The latest news and commentary from the Electoral Reform Society.

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Defending the postal vote

A BBC radio programme on postal vote fraud was aired last night, and it contained a call from a high court judge to scrap ‘on-demand’ postal votes. This knee-jerk reaction to the problem of fraud represents...

Posted 12 Mar 2014

We need to talk about PMQs

Prime Minister’s Questions hit the headlines last week following a Hansard Society report that found nearly half of their respondents thought it ‘too noisy and aggressive’. The Speaker, John Bercow, supported the report, criticising the ‘orchestrated barracking’...

Posted 26 Feb 2014

Wales and the Lobbying Bill

The potential effects of the Lobbying Bill on democracy at the UK level have been widely discussed, and it is difficult to cover the myriad problems the Bill poses in a single blog. This is...

Posted 24 Oct 2013

Only one in five ministers are female

In 2009, David Cameron pledged that a third of his ministers would be women. But even today, after a reshuffle which has increased the number of women in government by three, still only one in five ministers...

Posted 08 Oct 2013

Would you back ‘None of the Above’?

Following the county council elections we’ve been hearing a lot about ‘None of the Above’. The IPPR recently flagged None of the Above – or NOTA – as a part of their plan to boost youth...

Posted 14 May 2013

Ballot Papers

Why 32,000 people will be denied a vote in May

On Thursday 6 May, 27 county councils and 8 unitary authorities in England and Anglesey in Wales will hold elections. Sadly, they give us yet another example of the woeful state of local government. The...

Posted 10 Apr 2013

Scottish Public want bigger voice in politics

Last week politicians in Scotland were queuing up to call for more power to be exercised at local level. But it seems our politicians are coming late to the party on localism. Today we launch the...

Posted 12 Mar 2013

The 300 women ‘missing’ from Welsh public life

It’s International Women’s Day. And it seemed the right time to show just how badly women are faring in Welsh public life. Our Welsh Power Report assesses the levels of women across politics and public life,...

Posted 07 Mar 2013