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Campaign Regulation

We’ve told Parliament the case for updating our campaign rules – now it’s time to act

June 28, 2019

Current electoral legislation is not fit for purpose. The core elements of our electoral law date back to Victorian times,...

Conservative TV Debates
Informed Electorate

Why we’re calling on Boris Johnson to take part in the TV debates

In our fragile democracy, we need all the opportunities possible to hold public figures to account. So it’s all the...

Conservative MPs are running out of time to prevent another crisis
Electoral Reform in Westminster

Why a directly elected PM could trigger a constitutional crisis

This piece was originally published by The Times In the current Conservative Party leadership election MPs and party members will...

Electoral Reform in Westminster

Democracy needs you: Cross-party group seeks evidence for how to update Britain’s ‘wild west’ campaign rules

June 10, 2019

Last month saw a landmark in the push to overhaul Britain’s dangerously out-dated political campaigns laws. MPs from across the...

Darren Hughes on Sky News
Campaign Regulation

ERS is the Press: May 2019

In a month that began and ended with elections for local councils and the European Parliament – both of which...

Electoral Reform in Westminster

Volatile voting: Why the next General Election is going to be a shambles

June 4, 2019

Voters want to shop around more than ever – but they will be calamitously constrained by Westminster’s electoral system, according...

Constitutional Convention

Ending the Punch and Judy show: How to get a more cooperative politics

May 30, 2019

There is an uncomfortable fact for those who oppose moves to a fairer voting system: all the chaos we have...

Westminster Beyond Brexit Ending the Politics of Division
English Local Citizens' Assemblies

Ending the Politics of Division – How We Can Build a New Democracy

Ten years on from the expenses scandal that rocked trust in our politics and nearly three years since this Brexit...

Electoral systems play a big role in the number of women elected
Women in Politics

Euro elections show how Westminster’s first past the post holds back women

Elections to the European Parliament take place today across the UK. As we’ve talked about in a previous blog post,...

Each member state decides the details of the system used to elect their MEPs
Electoral Reform in Westminster

How is the European Parliament Elected?

Voters across the EU will be heading to the polls this week to elect the 751 representatives to the European...

Local leaders need a strong challenge, regardless of which party they come from
English Local Democracy

Even council leaders are uncomfortable with the ‘one party states’ of First Past the Post

May’s local elections in England showed just how unfit-for-purpose the voting system is, as voters were left with random results...

200 years on from the Peterloo Massacre, it’s time to revive the campaign for a real democracy.
Electoral Reform in Westminster

‘This is What Democracy Looks Like’: Why campaigners are gathering in Manchester 200 years on from the Peterloo Massacre

Nearly 200 years ago, thousands of working people gathered on St Peter’s Field in Manchester with a simple demand: political...