The Reformer

2016 - 2017 Annual report

From random results to Lords-a-claiming – 2017 and the Electoral Reform Society

Looking back on the past year, there’s a strong sense of achievement at the issues the ERS has been able...

An inconvenient truth – It’s time for more Assembly Members

Jess Blair says the case for a larger Assembly has to be made beyond Cardiff Bay to the people it...

Caroline Lucas MP

Caroline Lucas: A fair electoral system would tackle why people don’t vote

Green Party Co-Leader Caroline Lucas at the Westminster Hall Debate on Electoral Reform If democracy is about fairly representing the...

Lords Reform

The proposed Lords reforms are sticking plaster politics: Peers are writing their own rules

We’re at a rare point in politics. There is almost a consensus on the need for change –to cut down...

A chance to do Welsh local elections differently

While the Wales Act’s passing earlier this year didn’t come without its challenges, the legislation does mean that a range...

Citizens' Assembly on Brexit

The public can unite on the big issues around Brexit: the Citizens’ Assembly showed how

Just a few days ago, a representative body of UK citizens came together to do something new: work across divides...

couch potato peer

There’s a ‘something for nothing’ culture in the Lords. It’s time for Lords reform

Emma Levin reflects on our recent House of Lords research While their role is supposedly to scrutinise government, it is...

Citizens Assembly on Brexit

Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit: reflections on the first weekend

The Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit has just begun its work. The project’s director, Alan Renwick, here offers some initial, personal reflections...

You Did It! Parliament to Debate Fair Votes

You did it: Parliament is going to debate adopting fair votes

Earlier this year, the scale of public anger at our broken voting system was revealed. Despite no General Election being...

Polling Station

2017 General Election Results

While Labour achieved a nearly proportional result, getting just over 40 percent of the seats on 40 percent of the...

It’s time for Westminster to join Scotland in shunning First Past the Post

First Past the Post elections are like trying to peel potatoes with a chainsaw. For much of the UK, people have come...

Wales tears down barriers to democracy as England fortifies them

Last week Wales has shown just what devolution can do: allow new ways of doing democracy. On Tuesday the Welsh...