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How can we better regulate our elections?

Earlier this month, buried amidst the many reactions to the government’s Elections Bill, the Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) published its report on regulating election finance, following a year-long inquiry to which we...

Posted 20 Jul 2021

If the government really wants to improve the integrity of our elections, they should consider the findings of the CSPL

Greensill 2.0: Is the next lobbying scandal brewing in the House of Lords?

Posted 16 Apr 2021

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

Russia report highlights risk of foreign interference in House of Lords

"It is notable that a number of Members of the House of Lords have business interests linked to Russia."

Posted 22 Jul 2020

Dark ads and dodgy donors: How the Queen’s Speech missed a chance to protect our democracy

There was a conspicuous silence in the Queen’s Speech on Monday. Despite announcing a bill to protect ‘electoral integrity’ (by making it harder for us all to vote), there was inaction on updating Britain’s outdated...

Posted 18 Oct 2019

A new all-party group has been launched to update Britain’s ‘wild west’ election campaign rules

As we get closer to the European elections, here’s a worrying fact: our elections are currently wide open to foreign interference and dodgy campaigning. Election rules in the UK haven’t been updated since the year...

Posted 15 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

Money could flood into British politics under planned law

The Overseas Electors Bill, which returned to the Commons last week, has a sound purpose – to end the current limit on how long Britons can live abroad and still be able to vote. But,...

Posted 25 Mar 2019

Those funding our parties should live here

Tax ‘exiles’ are funnelling money into our political parties. It’s time to close the loophole

Here’s a fairly basic democratic principle: those who pour money into our political parties in exchange for influence should – at the very least –be based here at home. Sadly, even that low bar is...

Posted 07 Mar 2019

Britons living in tax havens and their UK companies have made political donations worth 5 million

The threat of dark money goes beyond Brexit

Two and a half years on from the EU referendum, the result is still being discussed and debated. Arguably more important though is another story: whether the rules of the game are bust. The weekend...

Posted 07 Nov 2018