News and Comment

The latest news and commentary from the Electoral Reform Society.

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First past the post distorts public opinion on small boats

Last week’s YouGov MRP poll showing Labour on course for a 1997-style general election victory created a big splash. In addition to asking about people’s general election voting intention, YouGov asked respondents about their views...

Posted 22 Jan 2024

Across the UK opinion is evenly divided on the issue of right of appeal

ERS in the Press – January 2024

Despite being one of our country’s shortest ever Prime Ministers Liz Truss dominated the headlines over the festive period. The ERS press team were ready and waiting to get our arguments around the House of...

Posted 18 Jan 2024

pile of newspapers

Changing boundaries shouldn’t change election results

For the past 30 years, political scientists Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher have been investigating how new boundaries will impact the political makeup of Parliament. Whenever new constituency maps are designed, they estimate what the...

Posted 16 Jan 2024

Shouldn’t MPs win or lose their seats based on voters changing their minds

140 years of winning electoral reform

On a chilly evening exactly 140 years ago, a diverse group gathered at 7 Clarges Street, Westminster. Brought together by the Victorian naturalist, archaeologist and polymath Sir John Lubbock, it was clear to them that the...

Posted 16 Jan 2024

The present political landscape would appear both radically different and depressingly similar to our forebears in 1884

The Non-Battleground Election: Millions of voters are ignored

Last week, the Labour Party started the process of selecting their general election candidates for 211 ‘non-battleground’ constituencies in England. The description of these seats as being ‘non-battleground’ is telling, implying that Labour will not...

Posted 18 Dec 2023

Around 400 seats will see very little, if any, local campaigning from either of the two major UK parties