As the Scottish Government closes the ‘dark ads’ loophole, Westminster must follow suit For too long now, online political campaigning in Britain has gone effectively unregulated – to the benefit of well-funded, secretive groups, and to the detriment of voters. Despite the rapid rise of online political ads as a campaign tool, governments... Posted 29 Oct 2020
The Citizen’s Assembly of Scotland can help shape our post-Covid future Scotland’s first Citizens’ Assembly met last week for the first time since March. Like many social events and workplaces, the deliberative body, made up of 100 citizens reflecting Scotland’s demographics, has moved online after being... Posted 23 Sep 2020
Scotland’s loophole ridden lobbying laws are in need of an urgent upgrade Wealth and power can get people access and influence that normal citizens can only imagine. It is, after all, why lobbying is a multi-million pound industry. That's why transparency is so vital. Posted 17 Aug 2020
Looking back at a decade of proportional representation for local elections in Scotland "When we now come to use Westminster’s one-person-takes-all system in Scotland, it seems perverse and unwieldly." Posted 04 May 2020
Deepening democracy with Scotland’s Local Democracy Bill Democracy isn’t static, it is a process. It isn’t always simple or easy, and today it is being tested under the strain of a crisis of trust, one which affects political institutions, the public square... Posted 30 Mar 2020
Could the Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland change how politics is done for good? A new way of doing democracy is being trialled in Scotland – and the ERS is at the heart of it. Since October, over 100 members of the Scottish public have been meeting regularly to... Posted 20 Mar 2020
9 things you need to know about the 2019 General Election You probably heard a lot about the number of seats parties won (and lost) in December’s General Election. What was less prominent was just how poorly the results reflected how people actually voted. The ERS... Posted 24 Dec 2019
What happens at the Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland? On Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th October, The Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland kicked off at the Grosvenor Hotel in Edinburgh, with one hundred people from across the country meeting for the first time. The Assembly... Posted 25 Nov 2019
Where is proportional representation used in the UK? Westminster’s voting system is well and truly broken. The system with which we elect our MPs is struggling to produce fair and representative results. The 2017 General Election showed that, for the third time in a... Posted 05 Nov 2019
ERS in the Press: July 2019 July was a busy month in Westminster before MPs headed off for the summer recess. Brexit and the Conservative leadership election dominated the headlines – and we found plenty of opportunities to keep reform of... Posted 01 Aug 2019