New polling finds three quarters of public say politics needs to improve significantlyLast week we had extremely concerning news about the state of our democracy. A significant study by the National Centre for Social Research found more people ‘than ever before’ ‘almost never’ trust the British government...Posted 20 Jun 2024
What does a super-majority mean and is it something we should worry about?In the last week, the current defence secretary, Grant Shapps, has been appearing in the news to warn about the supposed dangers of a Labour ‘super-majority’. He told Times Radio “You don’t want to have...Posted 18 Jun 2024
Over 100 seats haven’t changed hands for 100 years or moreWe often hear that politics is unpredictable, that anything can happen in the upcoming election – but the reality is that hundreds of seats across the country haven’t changed hands in decades. While the MP...Posted 03 Jun 2024
England’s local elections show the warped world of First Past the PostLocal people are best placed to decide the priorities of their local government. But as we say today, voters in England and Wales have very little impact on who sits in their local council chambers....Posted 03 May 2024
Voters are being treated as guinea pigs in this year’s local electionsToday, the 2nd May, millions of voters will head to the polls to elect more than 2,500 councillors, 37 police and crime commissioners, 10 metro mayors, 1 MP (by-election in Blackpool South) and London Assembly...Posted 02 May 2024
Changes to First Past the Post style Electoral College increase chances of Trump victoryBarring an act of God, 5 November 2024 will see a rematch of the 2020 US Presidential election between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Looking back at the nationwide result in 2020, you would be...Posted 26 Mar 2024
Vote splitting trick won’t work with Scotland’s Single Transferable VoteOn March 7th voters in Hillhead in Glasgow will be heading to the polls for a council by-election. Among those standing are candidates from the Scottish Greens and Independent Green Voice (IGV) – plenty of...Posted 04 Mar 2024
How many hung parliaments has the UK had?Westminster’s First Past the Post (FPTP) system often results in some parties gaining far more seats than their vote share deserves. But there is no guarantee that this un-earned ‘bonus’ always means one party gets...Posted 14 Feb 2024
Change to London mayoral elections complicates thinking for independent candidatesOver the weekend The Sun reported on rumours that Paul Scully MP, the former Conservative Minister for London, was considering running as an independent candidate for London mayor. We can’t comment on whether these Tory...Posted 05 Feb 2024
First past the post distorts public opinion on small boatsLast week’s YouGov MRP poll showing Labour on course for a 1997-style general election victory created a big splash. In addition to asking about people’s general election voting intention, YouGov asked respondents about their views...Posted 22 Jan 2024