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24 years ago the Greater London Authority Act gained royal assent

This weekend (11th November) marks the 24th anniversary of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 gaining royal assent. The Greater London Authority, comprising the Mayor of London and the London Assembly, was first elected in...

Posted 10 Nov 2023

72% of Londoners backed the proposals, which included a Mayor elected via the Supplementary Vote

First Past the Post in mayoral elections means less choice and a weaker voice

This week, the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has said he is facing his ‘toughest election yet’ but why is that? When Labour have a national polling majority of somewhere in the region of 20...

Posted 02 Nov 2023

First Past the Post in mayoral elections means less choice and a weaker voice

New rules see Mayors elected without majority support

Coverage of the local elections has been dominated by punditry over what the results mean for next year’s general election and the government’s controversial voter ID scheme, which saw countless people turned away from casting...

Posted 10 May 2023

What is a combined authority and what is a metro mayor?

Local government in England comes in many different formats, unitary, district and county councils all cover different parts of the country. In recent years, mayoral combined authorities have become an established part of the English...

Posted 24 Mar 2022

41 percent of England’s population now live in areas with some form of mayoral devolution deal

These government plans will hit 44m voters with less choice and a weaker voice

Millions of people went to the polls this Thursday in England and Wales to elect PCCs, plus Combined Authority mayors and the London mayor– using the Supplementary Vote system (SV).

Posted 07 May 2021

Less choice, weaker mandates and reduced accountability

How elections for the Mayor of London will work

On May 6, one year after elections were supposed to be held, more than six million Londoners will be called to the polling stations to elect their mayor (alongside 25 members of the London Assembly)...

Posted 01 Apr 2021

London’s Mayor will be elected using the Supplementary Vote making more votes matter

We can’t let the government force a broken system on important elections

This week, Home Secretary Priti Patel laid out new plans as part of a review into the role of Police and Crime Commissioners. The move would see the current preference-based Supplementary Vote (SV) system replaced...

Posted 19 Mar 2021

Imposing a broken system, without public support, can only serve to undermine these positions

The Conservatives just pledged to take our democracy back decades

Yesterday Theresa May launched the Conservatives’ manifesto. There was a lot of talk about ‘moving forwards’. But one pledge stuck out as doing the exact opposite. Theresa May has pledged to impose (or in the manifesto’s...

Posted 19 May 2017

Democracy, Diversity and English Devolution

The excitement of the general election aside, it’s important to remember that there are other important elections coming up – ones that have gone largely under the national radar. As well as important local elections...

Posted 19 Apr 2017