The Power of Preferences: STV in Scottish Local Elections Much talk of the need for electoral reform focuses on Westminster and the goal of a proportionally elected House of Commons. But while the UK Parliament, and almost all of England’s elections, are still held... Posted 26 Apr 2022
Elections Cancelled: Over 100,000 Welsh voters to be denied a vote With elections coming up across the country, campaigners across Wales are gearing up the familiar routine of doorstep conversations, leaflets through letterboxes and trying to convince voters that their candidate deserves to be re-elected, or... Posted 13 Apr 2022
Why England needs the Single Transferable Vote In May 2022, local elections will take place throughout Scotland and Wales, as well as in many parts of England, including the election of all local councillors in Greater London. In Scotland, these will be... Posted 07 Apr 2022
England and Wales can learn from Scotland’s success with STV It is now 15 years since Scotland abandoned First Past the Post for local government elections and adopted the Single Transferable Vote form of proportional representation. What many will have seen as a small shift in process... Posted 01 Apr 2022
How are English local councils funded? While you might think that local councils are wholly funded by council tax, in fact, local government in England is funded by a combination of central government grants and local taxes. What are the problems... Posted 30 Mar 2022
ERS Live: Where next for English local governance? Following the publication of our latest research report Democracy Made in England, last week we hosted our latest #ERSLive event, in which an expert panel discussed the question, ‘where next for English local government?’ for... Posted 29 Mar 2022
Early voting trails come to Wales This week the Welsh Government announced an exciting series of pilots on flexible voting – trialling, for the first time, new ways to make it easier for Welsh voters to access the ballot box. Since... Posted 25 Mar 2022
What is a combined authority and what is a metro mayor? Local government in England comes in many different formats, unitary, district and county councils all cover different parts of the country. In recent years, mayoral combined authorities have become an established part of the English... Posted 24 Mar 2022
How is local government organised in England? England’s local government can sometimes be quite confusing. The history of devolution within England is one of ad hoc, piecemeal, top-down reforms united in their lack of a clear vision. This has left different areas... Posted 16 Mar 2022
For local democracy to flourish our representatives need the power to deliver New ERS research finds over two-thirds of councillors feel they lack the powers to represent the needs of their local community. Local government is at the front line of our democracy. It’s the closest level... Posted 10 Mar 2022