Support grows for new way of doing democracy, as hundreds discuss Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland plans It’s clear that there is a growing appetite for a new kind of democracy, after hundreds gathered on Monday evening to debate plans for a Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland. At a sold-out panel Q&A hosted... Posted 10 Jul 2019
Four pitfalls and opportunities for the Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland Next Monday, the firing gun will be started on the Scottish Government’s plans for a ‘Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland’. Hundreds will gather to discuss what this might look like, what it might involve, and how... Posted 05 Jul 2019
Citizens’ assemblies can help us move beyond a broken Westminster model of politics This piece was originally published by The Scotsman. Talk of citizens’ assemblies is in the air. Former Conservative leadership contender, Rory Stewart has suggested holding one to break through the Brexit impasse. And on Monday,... Posted 20 Jun 2019
Ending the Punch and Judy show: How to get a more cooperative politics There is an uncomfortable fact for those who oppose moves to a fairer voting system: all the chaos we have seen in Westminster over the past few years has been under the ‘strong and stable’... Posted 30 May 2019
Ending the Politics of Division – How We Can Build a New Democracy Ten years on from the expenses scandal that rocked trust in our politics and nearly three years since this Brexit deadlock began, Britain’s broken political system remains largely unchanged. No one can deny it: the... Posted 25 May 2019
ERS in the Press – April 2019 As we geared up for a big round of local elections in England and Northern Ireland, we’ve been putting reform of Britain’s out-dated politics firmly on the agenda. Fair votes now As the Brexit process... Posted 01 May 2019
SNP delegates pack out ERS Scotland fringes On Sunday at SNP spring conference, delegates showed their interest in a deliberative and local democracy by packing out 2 events hosted by ERS Scotland. The first, a discussion around the merits of citizens’ assemblies,... Posted 01 May 2019
ERS in the Press – March 2019 Brexit might be dominating the news, but the rolling constitutional crisis that we call Westminster is still up to its usual tricks. We’ve spent the last month getting press attention for some of our biggest... Posted 29 Mar 2019
Local citizens’ assemblies could break our political deadlock – but the government have vetoed them Last summer, ministers announced genuinely exciting plans for piloting ‘deliberative democracy’ across the UK. The plan was to use a series of citizens’ assemblies to engage people with politics, to tackle complex and contested topics,... Posted 22 Mar 2019
Scotland needs new institutions to transform our local communities Can you remember a time you were talking with someone and the response you got back meant that it was blatantly obvious that they hadn’t understood what you were saying? You try again, but again... Posted 27 Feb 2019