The Reformer

Eurovision

Electoral Reform for Eurovision?

Eurovision is upon us once again with everyone’s favourite celebration of Europe’s questionable musical talent. Certain traditions will no doubt...

Voter registration: lessons from the US

By Dr Toby S James, Swansea University In the 1980s American academics Frances Fox Piven and Richard Cloward, alongside the...

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...

Graphic of women

Women’s legislative recruitment: no simple explanation, no single panacea

Rosie Campbell, Birkbeck University London & Sarah Childs, University of Bristol It is a widely held view that the first-past-the-post electoral system...

Examining the case for directly elected mayors

Does Bristol, Birmingham or Bradford want a Boris? We find out next Thursday when these and seven other English cities...

140,000 reasons for reform:

Next week voters across 21 of Wales’ 22 unitary authorities will head to the polls to decide the political make-up...

Bargaining on equality: a challenge to the trade unions?

“If we want to see women in positions of power in society – how do we achieve it?” This was...

Behind the excuses and the finger pointing – the bitter pill of party funding

So here we are again. Once more the headlines boom with a brand new ‘cash-for influence’ scandal. Peter Cruddas, millionaire...

Reporting back from Welsh Labour Conference

By Owain Llyr ap Gareth, Research and Campaigns Officer, Electoral Reform Society Wales After entering the empty room an hour before...

House of Lords

House of Lords reform: Independence, expertise and a strange case of false logic

The argument that independence and expertise exist in abundance amongst our current peers is now being cited as a key...

No more excuses: Why gender matters in politics

What would society be like if four out of five parliamentarians were women? Maybe we’d be failing on men’s health;...

“Aren’t you a bit small to be our Police and Crime Commissioner?”

Jane Basham was the Labour PCC candidate for Suffolk “Nearly toppled the establishment…” …..Is what colleagues have said after my...