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As the Scottish Government closes the ‘dark ads’ loophole, Westminster must follow suit

For too long now, online political campaigning in Britain has gone effectively unregulated – to the benefit of well-funded, secretive groups, and to the detriment of voters. Despite the rapid rise of online political ads as a campaign tool, governments...

Posted 29 Oct 2020

2019 must be the last election with voters left in the dark

Manifesto for Democracy: Education for the future

Education is key to ensuring that newly enfranchised voters understand the system they can now have a voice in. That 16 and 17 year olds in Wales can now vote in Senedd elections offers us...

Posted 29 Oct 2020

Manifesto for Democracy: Modernising Local Government

Local government in Wales is all too often ‘pale, male and stale’ – uncontested seats are widespread and incumbent councillors are often favoured by the current First Past The Post system. We need electoral reform...

Posted 26 Oct 2020

Manifesto for democracy: A Stronger Senedd

The Senedd looks very different to when it was first conceived in 1999. Ongoing devolution has meant more powers are held in Cardiff Bay – including primary law-making powers and tax-varying powers that create a...

Posted 23 Oct 2020

ERS Cymru’s 2021 Manifesto for Democracy

In just over six short months voters in Wales will head to the polls for the Senedd elections. This election will be different in many ways, with many alternative measures expected to be in place...

Posted 22 Oct 2020

Westminster could learn a lot from the Australian Capital Territory

This is a guest post by James Skibinski, a Data Science student at the University of Sydney with a second major in Economics. He is involved in New South Wales politics on a grassroots level...

Posted 21 Oct 2020

My experience in the Australian Capital Territory has changed my mind

Tackling online harms to our democracy must be a priority

Last week, the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee criticised the government for its repeated delays in publishing legislation to tackle online harms. In a statement calling for urgent action, committee...

Posted 20 Oct 2020

The white paper makes scant references to online harms to our democracy

Democracy and ‘deterrence’: How out-of-date campaign rules leave the door open to turnout suppression

Presidential elections tend to highlight the best and worst of US democracy. In 2016, for instance, the winner of the popular vote did not win the election, due to the electoral college system – a...

Posted 20 Oct 2020

Elections should be about winning voters, not make them give up on voting entirely

Does PR mean coalitions? As New Zealand shows – it’s all down to the voters

The New Zealand Labour party are celebrating a landslide win, with 49 percent of the vote and enough MPs to form a single-party government on their own. This is the first time since New Zealand...

Posted 20 Oct 2020

With PR if people want a single-party majority they get one

Voters risk being locked out – unless this crucial change is made

When the ‘virtual Parliament’ was launched at the end of April, the UK was witnessing around 5,000 new coronavirus cases a day. The first wave subsided. But now, we are seeing over 15,000 new cases...

Posted 20 Oct 2020