A Scottish House of Citizens would be the opposite of Westminster’s institutionally corrupt Lords 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
Only real local democracy can rebuild our communities 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
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
Scotland’s local democracy is not an optional extra 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
What we’ve learnt about the government’s ‘Democracy Commission’ By Akash Thiara, a Placement Student with the Electoral Reform Society from the University of Nottingham. It has been a year since the last general election and, the Conservative party pledged it would set up... Posted 18 Dec 2020
It’s time to put deliberation at the heart of Scottish politics 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
Building a better democracy – 2020 and the Electoral Reform Society 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