A future Labour government would be right to use Citizens’ Assemblies This morning it was revealed in The Times that Sue Gray, Keir Starmer’s Chief of Staff and former leading Civil Servant, is considering the use of Citizens’ Assemblies. Gray made the comments by referring to... Posted 19 Feb 2024
ERS Scotland: Our plans for the years ahead At ERS Scotland we are constantly monitoring the political seas and updating our course to make sure we have the proper heading. Following this year’s local elections, the elections to the Scottish Parliament in 2021,... Posted 24 May 2022
Scottish local democracy can build and strengthen our communities Democracy is the right for people to decide how the place where they live is run. But too few people now believe that this right is being honoured, too few believe that they decide and... Posted 13 May 2022
On Monday MPs have a chance to pass an election bill that actually works Opposition MPs have tabled amendments on reforming our voting system that would improve our elections for voters across the country. On Monday the government’s elections bill returns to the House of Commons. Along with other... Posted 14 Jan 2022
COP26 shows we need to democratise to decarbonise In the run up to the COP26 climate change conference, a coalition of leading democracy organisations joined together on a campaign to put strong democracy at the heart of any response. The campaign’s message was... Posted 26 Nov 2021
Local communities must be the foundation on which we build Scotland’s recovery The pandemic has given us a fresh insight into what we already knew about Scotland’s communities; people will sacrifice their time and resources to aid their neighbours. But that sense of community cannot be taken... Posted 26 Mar 2021
The Blaenau Gwent Climate Assembly is a first for Wales This community could be about to change how communities in Wales help decide on climate policy. In just a few days time Wales will host its very first Climate Assembly. It could be a game-changer... Posted 01 Mar 2021
Holyrood must take forward the Citizens’ Assembly’s calls to revamp Scottish democracy Politicians must move Scottish democracy forward by putting citizens at the centre, the ERS and 17 other leading organisations and campaigners say. Posted 18 Feb 2021
Scotland’s ground-breaking Citizens’ Assembly has wrapped up. What’s next? Scotland’s first Citizens’ Assembly, a deliberative body made up of 100 citizens reflecting the country’s demographics, concluded in January and published its visions for the future of Scotland. Citizens’ Assemblies which aim to create ‘mini-publics’... Posted 09 Feb 2021
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 citizens into those systems is vital to democracy that works. Without it we risk not... Posted 30 Oct 2020