How we vote has to change if our voices are to be heardIt came as no surprise this week that the 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer revealed nearly three in five people (57%) in the UK feel their views are not being represented in British politics. It is the inevitable consequence...Posted 24 Jan 2018
Ministers are ignoring the elephant in the room when it comes to boundariesThe government’s Minister for the Constitution has claimed that millions of voters living in oversized constituencies are being under-represented. Speaking about the current boundaries, Chris Skidmore MP said: “It is an affront to democracy that 27 million people are under-represented.” ...Posted 03 Jan 2018
New Zealand election: Citizens make the most of fair votesSaturday saw New Zealand go to the polls for its eighth election since they ditched the broken first past the post system and adopted Mixed-Member Proportional representation (MMP) in 1993. Mixed-Member Proportional is a variant...Posted 27 Sep 2017
You did it: Parliament is going to debate adopting fair votesEarlier this year, the scale of public anger at our broken voting system was revealed. Despite no General Election being on the horizon at the time – and starting from scratch – voters shattered expectations:...Posted 14 Sep 2017
It’s time for Westminster to join Scotland in shunning First Past the PostFirst Past the Post elections are like trying to peel potatoes with a chainsaw. For much of the UK, people have come to think this clunking old method of giving people a say is the same as...Posted 24 Aug 2017
The myth that Westminster’s voting system is ‘strong and stable’ has been bust for goodIf ‘strong and stable’ has been the motto of Parliament’s First Past the Post voting system, June 5th put an end to that myth once and for all. For the third time in a row,...Posted 24 Aug 2017
June 2017’s election was the third strike for Westminster’s voting system. It’s outThe evidence is there for us all to see now: the 2017 General Election was the third strike for the First Past the Post voting system. From producing a Parliament where no party got more...Posted 21 Aug 2017
We have a chance to revitalise British democracy – I look forward to leading the pushOn Monday I began my role as Chief Executive of the Electoral Reform Society – the world’s longest-standing pro-democracy group. I join at a time of huge change for democracy in the UK. The ERS has grown...Posted 08 Aug 2017
Did Proportional Representation put the Nazis in power?Probably the first time many of us heard of Proportional Representation (PR) was in a school classroom studying the Second World War. For some people this may have been the last time they heard about other...Posted 05 Jun 2015