The 2022 Welsh Local Elections and the case for STVOn May 5th 2022 voters went to the polls in Wales to elect councillors for all 22 local authorities. These were not the only elections held that day; Northern Ireland held an Assembly election and...Posted 15 Nov 2022
Why England needs the Single Transferable VoteIn May 2022, local elections will take place throughout Scotland and Wales, as well as in many parts of England, including the election of all local councillors in Greater London. In Scotland, these will be...Posted 07 Apr 2022
How are English local councils funded?While you might think that local councils are wholly funded by council tax, in fact, local government in England is funded by a combination of central government grants and local taxes. What are the problems...Posted 30 Mar 2022
ERS Live: Where next for English local governance?Following the publication of our latest research report Democracy Made in England, last week we hosted our latest #ERSLive event, in which an expert panel discussed the question, ‘where next for English local government?’ for...Posted 29 Mar 2022
What is a combined authority and what is a metro mayor?Local government in England comes in many different formats, unitary, district and county councils all cover different parts of the country. In recent years, mayoral combined authorities have become an established part of the English...Posted 24 Mar 2022
For local democracy to flourish our representatives need the power to deliverNew ERS research finds over two-thirds of councillors feel they lack the powers to represent the needs of their local community. Local government is at the front line of our democracy. It’s the closest level...Posted 10 Mar 2022
Democracy Made in England: Where Next for English Local Government?In the context of the changing nature of UK governance, England remains an anomaly. While the centres of power in the rest of the UK have shifted away from Westminster over the last two decades,...Posted 09 Mar 2022
Elections 2021: Rotten boroughs are rife in England, as voters are hit by warped resultsWe’re already seeing a plethora of rotten results – with parties taking nearly all the seats on a fraction of the vote.Posted 07 May 2021
Looking back at a decade of proportional representation for local elections in Scotland"When we now come to use Westminster’s one-person-takes-all system in Scotland, it seems perverse and unwieldly."Posted 04 May 2020
Deepening democracy with Scotland’s Local Democracy BillDemocracy isn’t static, it is a process. It isn’t always simple or easy, and today it is being tested under the strain of a crisis of trust, one which affects political institutions, the public square...Posted 30 Mar 2020