The Reformer

All Around the World Basics Case Study Current Affairs Commentary Developments at the ERS ERS Cymru ERS Northern Ireland ERS Report Launch ERS Scotland Featured Polling Your Questions Answered
Electoral Reform in Westminster

How Holyrood can close the lobbying loopholes – and stand up for transparency

November 9, 2020

Scotland’s lax transparency rules are leaving voters in the dark about the scale and nature of political lobbying, a coalition...

Electoral Reform in Westminster

In both the US and Britain, millions are silenced by a broken electoral system

First published in the i newspaper While President Trump looked hopefully at a path to re-election on Tuesday night, one...

Political education should be a required topic in Wales’ classrooms
Informed Electorate

Teaching politics in our schools should be a necessity not an option

Next year’s Senedd election will see 16 and 17 year olds in Wales be able to vote for the first...

Using a passport to vote in the UK
Voter ID

Papers, please: Why the UK must think again before importing US-style voter ID to Britain

Voting is a key cornerstone of any democratic system. Just as important are the principles underpinning it: that every vote...

Constitutional Convention
Citizens' Assemblies

Manifesto for Democracy: Deepening Democracy

Democracy is about empowering citizens to be involved in their political system and as such embedding the voices of everyday...

pile of newspapers
Campaign Regulation

ERS in the Press – October 2020

This month has seen a renewed interest in proportional representation internationally. Willie Sullivan backed up the case for a fairer...

2019 must be the last election with voters left in the dark
Campaign Regulation

As the Scottish Government closes the ‘dark ads’ loophole, Westminster must follow suit

For too long now, online political campaigning in Britain has gone effectively unregulated – to the benefit of well-funded, secretive groups, and...

ERS Cymru

Manifesto for Democracy: Education for the future

October 29, 2020

Education is key to ensuring that newly enfranchised voters understand the system they can now have a voice in. That...

ERS Cymru

Manifesto for democracy: A Stronger Senedd

October 23, 2020

The Senedd looks very different to when it was first conceived in 1999. Ongoing devolution has meant more powers are...

Campaign Regulation

Tackling online harms to our democracy must be a priority 

October 20, 2020

Last week, the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee criticised the government for its repeated delays...

Campaign Regulation

Democracy and ‘deterrence’: How out-of-date campaign rules leave the door open to turnout suppression

October 20, 2020

Presidential elections tend to highlight the best and worst of US democracy. In 2016, for instance, the winner of the...

Parliament House
Electoral Reform in Westminster

Does PR mean coalitions? As New Zealand shows – it’s all down to the voters

The New Zealand Labour party are celebrating a landslide win, with 49 percent of the vote and enough MPs to...