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
Changing boundaries shouldn’t change election resultsFor the past 30 years, political scientists Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher have been investigating how new boundaries will impact the political makeup of Parliament. Whenever new constituency maps are designed, they estimate what the...Posted 16 Jan 2024
The Non-Battleground Election: Millions of voters are ignoredLast week, the Labour Party started the process of selecting their general election candidates for 211 ‘non-battleground’ constituencies in England. The description of these seats as being ‘non-battleground’ is telling, implying that Labour will not...Posted 18 Dec 2023
Strong government vs good government? First Past the Post means our governments will always fail to deliverGovernment failures are always in the news, but we rarely question why it is that our governments often seem so wholly incapable of delivering on their objectives. It’s easy to point at individual ministers and...Posted 30 Nov 2023
24 years ago the Greater London Authority Act gained royal assentThis weekend (11th November) marks the 24th anniversary of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 gaining royal assent. The Greater London Authority, comprising the Mayor of London and the London Assembly, was first elected in...Posted 10 Nov 2023
First Past the Post locks many talented people out of politicsThis week, Politics Home reported that Regional Tories Are Snubbing Parachuted MP Candidates In Favour Of “Local Champions”. It seems that number of Conservative candidates with a background in local government is increasing at each...Posted 11 Aug 2023
Where are the policies for renters? First Past the Post keeps the focus on homeownersWith the current cost-of-living crisis and soaring interest rates, mortgages and mortgage holders are all anybody can talk about, including our political parties.Posted 28 Jul 2023
Should the ERS look at the rules for… Tennis?As tennis players line up for the Wimbledon semi-finals, and candidates hit the doorstep for multiple by-elections, we’ve been thinking about how useful sporting analogies are when it comes to politics. As, when you think...Posted 14 Jul 2023