The Reformer

Estonia scores highly on all democracy indices

How do elections work in Estonia?

Estonia is undoubtedly one of eastern Europe’s biggest success stories since the collapse of communism – its economy has developed...

SNP leadership candidates

Here’s how SNP leadership elections work

The deadline for contenders to put themselves forward for the next SNP leadership passed at midday on the 24th February,...

Making it harder for people to vote is an expensive business

Why will the government’s voter ID scheme cost us up to £180,000,000 a decade?

Making it harder for people to vote is an expensive business. The government’s impact assessment of the Elections Act suggested...

Welsh Lab Conf 2023 Preview

New Era, New Democracy: How can a UK Labour government lead the way on reform? (Welsh Labour Conference)

This ERS Cymru and Labour for a New Democracy fringe event will look at how a UK Labour government can...

There are six Government Whips in the House of Lords

Are there whips in the House of Lords?

From 1990s TV series House of Cards to James Graham’s play This House, the role of the Whip in British...

Postbox

Will I need photo ID to get a postal vote?

Slowly, the country is waking up to the fact that the government have changed the rules for who can vote....

We have the opportunity to encourage first-time voter participation

Welcome to Your Vote Week – Raising young people’s political awareness

This week is Welcome to Your Vote Week, a campaign by the Electoral Commission to spark campaigners across the UK...

Victor d'Hondt

Why did Belgium adopt proportional representation?

In 1899, Belgium became the first country in the world to adopt a proportional system for national elections. At that...

We tell ministers- Dont risk queues and chaos at the polls in May

Government plans heading for trouble as just 10,000 people apply for government-issued voter ID

Evidence is building that the Government’s flagship voter ID policy is heading for failure and election day chaos in May...

ERS Cymru has long called for automatic voter registration

We told the Welsh Government our suggestions for how to remove barriers to voting

Since elections were devolved to Wales in the Wales Act 2017 there have been a lot of changes for Welsh...

Scottish Lab Conf 2023 Preview

Can We Repair Our Politics Together? (Scottish Labour Conference)

The recently released Brown Commission report looks at ‘Renewing our Democracy and Rebuilding our Economy’. But how do we implement...

The government has decided to go with the strictest rules every time

All the ways the government decided not to make their voter ID rules fairer

This May, millions of people will be asked to bring photo ID to the polling station for the first time....