The Reformer

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Westminster's voting system is an anti-choice stitch up

Electoral Reform in Westminster

Brexit pacts: The latest desperate attempt to game a broken first-past-the-post system

The decision by both Plaid Cymru and the Greens to stand down at last week’s Brecon and Radnorshire by-election has...

House of Lords

Asking Theresa May To Show ‘Restraint’ In Her Resignation Honours Misses The Point – The Lords Is Bust

When even Peers are calling for an overhaul of the House of Lords, you know the chamber is broken. A...

Electoral Reform in Westminster

ERS in the Press: July 2019

July was a busy month in Westminster before MPs headed off for the summer recess. Brexit and the Conservative leadership...

In 17 councils, the party with the largest number of votes did not secure the most seats

English Local Democracy

Local elections: How voters in England were cheated by a broken voting system

Local democracy in England and Wales has long been under strain – with contests often seeing dismally low turnout, or...

Senedd

Building a stronger Senedd: Why size (still) matters

Almost since its inception, there has been discussion and debate about a larger National Assembly here in Wales. Most recently,...

There’s plenty of good practice which the Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland can draw on

Democracy Max

The Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland: What can be learnt from elsewhere?

How do you ensure the recently-announced Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland is open and transparent while protecting the participants from hostility and excess...

A two-dimensional political environment is perhaps creating a four-party-plus political system

Electoral Reform in Westminster

Voters are going beyond left-right divides – and the system can’t handle it

During the first half of 2019, party affiliation among the British electorate became more fragmented and volatile than ever before....

Electoral Reform in Westminster

Ed Davey – Liberal Democrat Leadership Interview

Electoral Reform Society Chief Executive Darren Hughes spoke with Lib Dem leadership candidate Ed Davey Darren Hughes: Ed, thank you...

Electoral Reform in Westminster

Jo Swinson – Liberal Democrat Leadership Interview

Our Chief Executive Darren Hughes interviewed Liberal Democrat Leadership hopeful Jo Swinson on her democratic priorities. Darren Hughes: Let’s kick...

We need urgent legislation to bring electoral law in line with digital campaigning techniques

Campaign Regulation

An election could happen at any time – electoral law needs to be urgently updated

Last week, the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee published its response to the government’s Online...

The assembly will be completely independent of government and parties

Citizens' Assembly on Brexit

Support grows for new way of doing democracy, as hundreds discuss Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland plans

It’s clear that there is a growing appetite for a new kind of democracy, after hundreds gathered on Monday evening...

All the binary ways of thinking and focus on personalities has to be put aside

Constitutional Convention

Four pitfalls and opportunities for the Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland

Next Monday, the firing gun will be started on the Scottish Government’s plans for a ‘Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland’. Hundreds...