Articles and Insights

Accessible commentary and insights from the Electoral Reform Society on the issues shaping our democracy.

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Cameron’s broken promise on Women’s representation

Women’s representation in government has always appeared to matter to the Prime Minister. Back in his 2005 acceptance speech as leader David Cameron spoke of the need to end the “scandalous under-representation of women” in...

Posted 09 Sep 2012

England let down by elections as Scotland leads the way

Since Thursday’s local elections we’ve been crunching the numbers. Did voters get a fair deal? What has breaking from First Past the Post meant for Scotland? Well what we’re seeing is a widening gulf between local democracy...

Posted 09 May 2012

Examining the case for directly elected mayors

Does Bristol, Birmingham or Bradford want a Boris? We find out next Thursday when these and seven other English cities give voters a choice as to whether to adopt the directly elected mayor model. Yet...

Posted 26 Apr 2012

140,000 reasons for reform:

Next week voters across 21 of Wales’ 22 unitary authorities will head to the polls to decide the political make-up of their local councils.  Voters will express a view on where they want to see...

Posted 26 Apr 2012

Reporting back from Welsh Labour Conference

By Owain Llyr ap Gareth, Research and Campaigns Officer, Electoral Reform Society Wales After entering the empty room an hour before the first of our two fringe meetings at the Welsh Labour conference – looking at...

Posted 19 Mar 2012