The Reformer

First Past the Post is at crisis point

CWU votes to support PR: four of ‘big five’ Labour-affiliated unions now back electoral reform

Amid all the political drama over the weekend, with the fallout from the elections and then calls on the Prime...

There are an entirely new set of electoral arrangements in place

How will the 2026 Senedd election change Welsh politics?

On 7th May 2026, voters across Wales will elect not just a new Senedd, but a fundamentally different one. This...

Voters rights restored! Back up choices for mayors to return

New law restores fairer voting system for mayoral elections

On 29 April 2026, the English Devolution & Community Empowerment Bill received Royal Assent. This means that it has passed...

Now let us build a House of Lords worthy of a modern democracy

Hereditary peers have left the Lords for the last time

Sometimes change arrives with fanfare. Sometimes it arrives quietly, after years of argument, delay and unfinished business. This week, the...

Better local services need better local elections

Why we need to change the way we elect our councillors in England and Wales

Discussions around changing the voting system often refer to Westminster, yet the same problems that stifle the government of the...

England’s previous local elections show what’s wrong with our voting system

Time and time again, England’s local elections repeatedly produce results that simply don’t reflect how people vote. If you live...

Holyrood’s voting system wants you to be represented in Parliament

How Scotland’s Holyrood elections work will work this May

The 2024 General Election in Scotland was a one-sided affair. Scottish Labour won 35.3% of the vote in Scotland and...

Compulsory voting would treat the symptoms not the cause

We should fix our voting system, not force people to use it

This week, the Telegraph has published an article debating the merits of compulsory voting. Partly inspired by the approaching first...

The case for examining First Past the Posts role is growing

Former Prime Minister John Major questions the ‘validity’ of First Past the Post

There has been a significant intervention in the debate around electoral reform recently, in the guise of former Prime Minister...

The government must go further and bring in a cap on how much all donors can give to a party

Government to cap overseas donations and stop crypto donations

Today we welcomed the review by Philip Rycroft into countering foreign financial influence and interference in UK politics. The review...

We need to shift the balance closer to 50:50, to allow the ‘top-up’ to do its job.

Scotland’s Parliament still has too much First Past the Post

When the Scottish Parliament was created, it was built to be different to Westminster. A system designed to reflect how...

First Past the Post is increasingly failing to deliver for voters

We were asked to address MPs on the Representation of the People Bill committee

This week MPs sitting on the Representation of the People Bill committee took evidence before the bill starts committee stage...