ERS Scotland and the Sortition Foundation have ramped up calls for ‘House of Citizens’ – a revising chamber made up of ordinary voters – in Scotland, following revelations that a Conservative party donor gave the...
Posted 03 Jun 2021
Among the wave of elections that will be held on 6 May, voters across Scotland will be called to elect 129 members of the devolved Scottish Parliament for the sixth time in its history. The...
Posted 19 Apr 2021
The last twelve months have changed the way many of us think about our everyday lives. The lockdowns necessitated by the pandemic have made the world feel smaller and turned many people’s minds to a...
Posted 09 Apr 2021
A major loophole in Scotland’s lobbying register is undermining transparency – with voters left in the dark about lobbying during the pandemic.
Posted 04 Mar 2021
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
The experience of the covid-19 crisis has served to underline and strengthen the case ERS Scotland has long been making for a revamped local democracy. The work undertaken in recent years – alongside a range...
Posted 14 Jan 2021
The Citizens' Assembly of Scotland has proposed an idea that could ensure all of Scotland is reflected in Holyrood - a permanent citizens assembly, or 'House of Citizens'.
Posted 04 Jan 2021
Overhauling Parliament’s London-dominated second chamber would help empower the UK’s nations and regions, writes a senior director at the Electoral Reform Society. It’s been a year since Boris Johnson’s victory in the 2019 general election,...
Posted 22 Dec 2020
Last Saturday the final session of the Citizen’s Assembly of Scotland concluded. The assembly, the largest deliberative event in Scotland’s history brought together ordinary people to deliberate over the issues that will shape Scotland. As...
Posted 12 Dec 2020
It’s hard to think of a more troubling year in living memory. But the public health crisis has, perhaps counter-intuitively, put issues of democracy at the forefront. The election may feel like a distant memory,...
Posted 07 Dec 2020