Charities have nothing to fear from the Scottish Lobbying BillThis is a guest blog – the opinions expressed here are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Electoral Reform Society. MSc student Megan Elliot, who is conducting research on lobbying...Posted 12 Feb 2016
5 Myths About the Scottish Lobbying BillThis is a guest post by Pete Mills from Unlock Democracy In the first week back after Christmas, MSPs debated a Bill to introduce a lobbying register designed to let ordinary people know who is...Posted 25 Jan 2016
Our top ten most read blogs of 20152015 was the busiest year ever for the Electoral Reform Society blog, with monthly readership over double the level we had in 2014. As we get stuck in to 2016, we thought we’d look back...Posted 04 Jan 2016
It’s time 16 and 17 year olds got the voteLast month saw a big victory for campaigners for a fairer franchise: the House of Lords supported giving 16 and 17-year-olds a vote in the EU referendum. Votes at 16 is now in the Bill. But...Posted 04 Dec 2015
Putting PR in ParliamentUPDATE, December 3: The Bill has now been rescheduled and will be heard on Wednesday 16th December. —- It’s not an opportunity that comes up very often, so this is an important one: this Wednesday,...Posted 30 Nov 2015
Our bloated second chamberThe House of Lords is already the biggest chamber in the democratic world – yet it is growing in size with each new government. As peers sit in the chamber for life, it grows with...Posted 19 Oct 2015
Localism and devolution – ERS at Labour conference“Devolution is a hot topic,” said Jane Dudman, Guardian Public Leaders editor, who chaired the first of three ERS fringe events at Labour Party Conference 2015. The topic was: “can Labour reclaim devolution and localism?”...Posted 13 Oct 2015
Party over Principle: Independence in the LordsThe House of Lords is often assumed to be more independent than the Commons because it is less strongly whipped and because it contains Crossbench members who do not have a party affiliation. But it’s...Posted 09 Oct 2015
An Elected Lord?The British constitution, its parliament and its institutions are well known for its oddities and eccentricities: the space provided in the Commons cloakroom for MPs to hang their sword; the fact that all swans in...Posted 18 Sep 2015
The Scottish people should be involved in the devolution debateYesterday (Wednesday 16th September) the Scottish Parliament debated ‘Scotland’s Future: Democracy and Devolution’. One year on from the independence referendum, and with the Scotland Bill due to go to report stage in the next few...Posted 17 Sep 2015