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Electoral Reform in Westminster

Conservative MPs back proportional representation, arguing First Past the Post “encourages conflict and aggression”

MPs from across the spectrum made the case for reforming the Commons’ ‘divisive, broken electoral system’ on Tuesday, in a...

Electoral Reform in Westminster

Uncontested seats mean thousands of voters will be denied their democratic rights

April 25, 2019

Next week, on Thursday, 2 May, voters in many parts of England will go to the polls to elect their...

Election Cancelled
Electoral Reform in Westminster

Democracy cancelled: How parties have captured hundreds of seats before local election day

Large parts of England are effectively democracy deserts, with hundreds of thousands of potential voters denied real choice in this...

Campaign Regulation

Ministers can’t let themselves of the hook when it comes to tackling the social media ‘Wild West’

April 15, 2019

Last week the government launched a consultation into tackling ‘online harm’. It’s the first step towards dealing with the tech...

Votes are chewed up by the meat-grinder of Westminster’s voting system
Electoral Reform in Westminster

Why A General Election Won’t Solve The Brexit Deadlock

One piece of news got buried last week. While Labour held on to Newport West in Thursday’s by-election, the full...

Forcing people to vote won’t tackle the causes of low turnout, merely the symptoms.
Polling Day

Should we make voting compulsory?

Elections with low-turnout are not uncommon in the UK, so it’s only natural that questions are often raised on how...

If you vote in your first election, you’ll probably vote for life
Votes at 16

In a Snap Brexit Election, 16 and 17 Year-Olds Must Have the Vote

Young people are refusing to be ignored – the recent school climate strikes and campaigning on Brexit have shown that....

Campaign Regulation

ERS in the Press – March 2019

March 29, 2019

Brexit might be dominating the news, but the rolling constitutional crisis that we call Westminster is still up to its...

Electoral Reform in Westminster

Binary indicative votes were never going to achieve a consensus

March 29, 2019

This is an expanded version of a letter from our Senior Director,  Willie Sullivan, that was published in the Times...

House of Lords
House of Lords

While MPs debate our democratic future, another aristocrat takes a seat in Parliament for life

On Wednesday – while elected MPs debated Britain’s future – the results came out for the latest in a series...

Future Voices: Delivering on a Parliament that works for Wales (Welsh Labour Fringe)

March 28, 2019

With the 20th anniversary of the Assembly upon us, how should it evolve further to become a parliament that delivers...

no evidence of voter fraud
Voter ID

New figures demolish the government’s argument for mandatory voter ID

The government’s case for excluding voters who lack ID is getting weaker by the day. Last week the Electoral Commission...