38,000 denied a vote Tens of thousands of people across England are being denied a vote in next week’s local elections, owing to the undemocratic phenomenon of uncontested seats. In this year’s elections there are seven wards which are... Posted 16 May 2014
Do you live in a Rotten Borough? With this year’s county council elections only a few weeks away, we’ve undertaken new analysis that has revealed the parlous state of local democracy in England and Wales. Evidence shows 21 million people are now... Posted 17 Apr 2013
Why 32,000 people will be denied a vote in May On Thursday 6 May, 27 county councils and 8 unitary authorities in England and Anglesey in Wales will hold elections. Sadly, they give us yet another example of the woeful state of local government. The... Posted 10 Apr 2013
Electoral Commission slams Police and Crime Commissioner elections It’s Official! Everyone (apart from the Home Office) who has looked at the elections for police and crime commissioners (PCCs) say they should never be allowed to happen that way again. At the Electoral Reform... Posted 19 Mar 2013
STV’s Second Outing In 2007 Scotland began using the Single Transferable Vote (STV) for local government elections. The First Past the Post system – once used for all public elections in mainland Britain – was consigned to history.... Posted 27 Feb 2013
Where are the women in local government? At first glance, UK local government statistics aren’t exactly the most exciting topic for a blog. But they’re really important as they give us an insight into gender and politics in the UK today. The... Posted 25 Feb 2013
16 days and counting to an election no one’s heard of… Another day, another disaster. We now hear that £350,000 worth of ballot papers are headed for the shredder. The farce that is the Police and Crime Commissioner Elections is continuing to thrill audiences across the country.... Posted 30 Oct 2012
A fair cop for women? Female Police and Crime Commissioner candidates in less winnable seats Yesterday, the Labour Party became the first party to finalise its candidates for the 41 Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to be elected this November. There have been widespread fears that this new role will be heavily... Posted 20 Jun 2012
England let down by elections as Scotland leads the way Since Thursday’s local elections we’ve been crunching the numbers. Did voters get a fair deal? What has breaking from First Past the Post meant for Scotland? Well what we’re seeing is a widening gulf between local democracy... Posted 09 May 2012
Examining the case for directly elected mayors Does Bristol, Birmingham or Bradford want a Boris? We find out next Thursday when these and seven other English cities give voters a choice as to whether to adopt the directly elected mayor model. Yet... Posted 26 Apr 2012