The new rotten boroughs? How would you like to live in a one party state? You may wonder why anyone would ask given that this is the UK, not North Korea. After all, we can all vote tomorrow if... Posted 21 May 2014
38,000 denied a vote Tens of thousands of people across England are being denied a vote in next week’s local elections, owing to the undemocratic phenomenon of uncontested seats. In this year’s elections there are seven wards which are... Posted 16 May 2014
One Direction for electing MEPs We haven’t had a high-profile defection in Welsh politics for a while, so it’s unsurprising that the hearts of some were set aflutter when the former Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney,... Posted 12 May 2014
Do you live in a Rotten Borough? With this year’s county council elections only a few weeks away, we’ve undertaken new analysis that has revealed the parlous state of local democracy in England and Wales. Evidence shows 21 million people are now... Posted 17 Apr 2013
Why 32,000 people will be denied a vote in May On Thursday 6 May, 27 county councils and 8 unitary authorities in England and Anglesey in Wales will hold elections. Sadly, they give us yet another example of the woeful state of local government. The... Posted 10 Apr 2013
STV’s Second Outing In 2007 Scotland began using the Single Transferable Vote (STV) for local government elections. The First Past the Post system – once used for all public elections in mainland Britain – was consigned to history.... Posted 27 Feb 2013
Where are the women in local government? At first glance, UK local government statistics aren’t exactly the most exciting topic for a blog. But they’re really important as they give us an insight into gender and politics in the UK today. The... Posted 25 Feb 2013
A bold step forward for women’s representation Ireland currently ranks 87 in the world for gender representation in politics with just 15.1% of Irish parliamentarians being women. This means in the world league tables Ireland lags behind Iraq, Burkina Faso and Turkmenistan... Posted 23 Jul 2012
England let down by elections as Scotland leads the way Since Thursday’s local elections we’ve been crunching the numbers. Did voters get a fair deal? What has breaking from First Past the Post meant for Scotland? Well what we’re seeing is a widening gulf between local democracy... Posted 09 May 2012
Interests aside – what’s right for Wales? The Electoral Reform Society Wales launched our new report today analysing the results of the Welsh Assembly Elections in May 2011. The report shows what the results could have looked like had they been conducted... Posted 22 Nov 2011