The latest news and commentary from the Electoral Reform Society.
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Whenever the issue of creating an elected Second Chamber comes up, a common question is how it should be elected. Thankfully, one of the areas of agreement on Lords reform over the years has been...
Posted 27 Dec 2023
One of the unique features of our currently second chamber, apart from it being unelected and still partially based on inherited titles, is that its membership is huge. At over 800 peers in total, not...
Posted 21 Dec 2023
Our recent polling, covered by the Daily Mirror, has found that fewer than one-in-four individuals think it is acceptable for prime ministers to appoint peers to the House of Lords so they can parachute them...
Posted 12 Dec 2023
Reform of the House of Lords is both hugely popular with the public and very long overdue. Yet in any serious discussion of how to achieve reform, the same questions come up: What about Commons...
Posted 11 Dec 2023
David Cameron was appointed as Foreign Secretary this week – but he’s not been an MP since 2016. How is he then taking one of the great offices of state? He’s not going to stand...
Posted 16 Nov 2023
Democracy was a conspicuous omission from yesterday’s King’s Speech. The pomp and ceremony of the occasion was the government’s last chance to set out a legislative agenda before the next election. Yet despite Rishi Sunak...
Posted 08 Nov 2023
As a non-partisan organisation, we attend all the major party conferences to make the case for electoral reform. There is a long history of electoral reform supporters in the Conservative Party, with Conservative Action for...
Posted 05 Oct 2023
The fact that Liz Truss’s short-term premiership can result in lifetime appointments to the house of House of Lords has rightfully angered many. But it is just an example of business as usual in Westminster,...
Posted 23 Aug 2023
News reports this weekend revealed that Liz Truss’s controversial honours list is making its way through the vetting process with the Cabinet Office and House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC). This suggests that the UK’s...
Posted 16 Aug 2023
Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list caused quite a kerfuffle between the House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC) and the current and former PM. This all led to a rather slimmed-down list from the much speculated...
Posted 11 Jul 2023
