Why are our mayors winning on less than 30% of the vote? This past week’s mayoral elections marked a worrying milestone for democracy in England. For the first time ever, two combined authority mayors have been elected on less than 30% of the vote – with one... Posted 07 May 2025
The end of the two-party system? What the experts are saying about the 2025 local elections Since the votes cast in the local elections were counted on Friday there has been extensive debate among experts and in the media about whether we are seeing the end of the two-party system. This... Posted 07 May 2025
First Past the Post again set to produce random results at English local elections With four weeks to go before English local authority elections, which will be held on 1 May 2025, this week saw the announcement of candidates for each of the divisions or wards where local councillors... Posted 03 Apr 2025
Where next for Welsh democracy as Plaid Cymru top Senedd voting intention poll? The latest Barn Cymru poll released earlier in December by YouGov for ITV Wales and Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre suggests that Plaid Cymru could be the largest party in the Senedd come 2026. The... Posted 18 Dec 2024
90% of seats on less than half the vote? That’s England’s local democracy With nearly all the 2023 local election results declared, the First Past the Post system used across England has once again failed to reflect the views of voters in who runs their local community. Rather... Posted 09 May 2023
Elections Cancelled: 90,000 denied any say in local elections Following the publication of candidate notices for the May 2023 English local elections, it is clear that the scourge of uncontested and guaranteed seats will once again limit the democratic choices of hundreds of thousands... Posted 02 May 2023
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
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
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
New research reveals BME people severely under-represented on local councils New research has revealed a significant ‘representation gap’ when it comes to diversity at a local level. Posted 09 Jul 2020